Titus 3:2  to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men

Years ago, when I was teaching beginning band, at the end of the week I would remind the students that they were to take their instruments home and practice for one hour over the weekend. Over time I began to add the instruction: ‘don’t spend time practicing the excuses for why you didn’t practice, just practice.’

We are naturally good at excuses. We have, virtually all of us, a lot of experience practicing them. Paul instructed Titus to speak evil of no one. Surely he didn’t mean no one?! There must be exceptions, right? For sure Paul was completely ignorant of the kind of people we deal with, wasn’t he?

When we make excuses for why it’s okay to disobey Scripture we set ourselves up for real problems. If we read Scripture and find nothing that appears difficult to obey I think we’re not reading carefully. To speak evil of no one? I think I will need the Holy Spirit’s presence and power to pull that off!

If we think it’s not that big of a deal, we must ask ourselves, “Should I be peaceable and gentle?” Well, of course the answer is yes if I want to live like Jesus. Do those qualities have anything to do with not speaking evil? I believe that they do.

But there’s also that last part: showing humility to all men. Surely he didn’t mean ‘all men’?!

Hmmm.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Russ