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Titus 1:13
13 This [houtos] witness [marturia] is [esti] true [alethes]. Wherefore [dia] [hos] [aitia] rebuke [elegcho] them [autos] sharply [apotomos], that [hina] they may be sound [hugiaino] in [en] the faith [pistis]; KJV-Interlinear
13 This testimony is true. For this cause reprove them severely that they may be sound in the faith, NASB
The report of the description of the general bad behavior of the population, is a true and accurate report. This is not an exaggeration, or even a simple smirk comment.
The description that Paul gave in the previous verse, is really an accurate description, and not one to be taken lightly as though it were just humor, but one to be taken seriously, because giving over the custody of the teaching of the scriptures to the locals, and their future generations, is a very serious matter.
Everyone's lives are in view here and anything less than an honest and accurate approach to teaching the Word of God, will have a tremendous impact on their entire life, both now and especially forever in eternity.
The magnitude of the spiritual life of even one individual, is infinite. The magnitude of the spiritual lives of many individuals, even the generations to follow, is beyond comprehension.
Your spiritual life is the greatest and most important and most valuable possession that you can or will, ever have. There is nothing in this world, and nothing in your life that can surpass it. Even if you owned all of the accumulated wealth in all of history, in all of this world, you could not come anywhere near the value of your spiritual life and the destiny that a completed spiritual life represents for all of eternity.
So, Paul instructs Titus in this regard. Find good people. Teach them thoroughly and completely, such that they will have nowhere to turn to, except truth, when challenged by the many challenges that will surely come along.
Look at the integrity of people of our current day. People lie and cheat, and misrepresent themselves with impunity. People abuse their positions and connive and use deceptions in order to get ahead in the world.
Even churches compromise the teaching of doctrine, by creating a social atmosphere to entice membership, rather than simply teaching solid doctrine.
But of course people want immediate gratification. They want immediate answers and solutions to their problems. People are enticed by gimmicks and promises, and clubs and things that promise or imply that if they just join up, then all their problems and wishes will go away or be granted.
Not so.
No one wants to study day in and day out, with seemingly no results. And if you do not offer gimmicks, sister groups, promise groups, something that is nothing more than a crutch for folks to blame if they don’t get their way, then no one is interested.
And that is unfortunate, because they only throw away their own future.
When Jesus was walking here on this earth, everyone wanted a sign. Everyone wanted something for proof of who He was. But more than that, they wanted some proof that they were going to get their way, in a manner of their liking, not as God has designed. And yet the signs were right in front of them daily. Jesus did so many miracles that it is impossible for anyone to have not seen His true identity.
It is no different today. People want proof. People want signs. People want instant gratifications of the things they want, not what God has designed for the human race and history. And by taking that approach to your spiritual life, you lose.
The proofs are always there, everywhere around you. You just have to open up your eyes and begin the day to day transformation of your life, and stop looking for the shortcuts that you will never find, because they don’t exist.
