Week 3 – Titus: “COUNTER-CULTURE”

Devotions written by Julie Hammer

Monday
Titus 1:1-13a

The small book of Titus has big messages for the church today. Written by the Apostle Paul to his friend and Gentile convert, Titus, Paul gives instructions for establishing a church on the Island of Crete. Starting a church is hard. But it’s even harder when the would-be church members were self-diagnosed “liars, cruel animals, and lazy gluttons” (1:12). Instead of becoming discouraged and lessening the requirements for new church leaders, Paul put forth clear and high expectations of elders: They are to be “blameless, the husband of one wife, and one whose children are obedient, hospitable, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined” (1:6).

Has God given you a seemingly impossible task? Are you holding to God’s standards, or your own? How are you standing for righteousness in a world that is broken? Pray asking God to empower you to live righteously in a broken world.