Striving to Be More Godly

Titus 1:5-10 -  The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.  An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.  Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless--not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.  Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.  He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.  For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group.

Paul has traveled many places and started many new churches.  It must have been hard for him…to leave other people in charge of these churches...to trust that God would build up their faith and help them be great leaders and preachers. I am sure that Paul bathed every new church in prayer …and ask God to strengthen those he left like Titus to carry on the work of saving and baptizing others. The moral attitude of whomever Titus picked was so important that he repeats the qualifications for leaders from 1 Timothy 3.  Hard list to measure up to…but a great list to strive for ….cause God sure can’t use us if we allow the world to polish some of these behaviors that Paul tells us we should completely eradicate from our lives.

Confession time…visions of some of the things I have done…some not in my so distant past flashed in front of me as I read this. And since I am one that simply can’t say that I could check off all these qualifications…I must rely on God’s forgiveness…realize that these behaviors hurt my testimony with others.  I must ask God to help me begin to remove them far from me…and replace them with the positive behaviors that God needs in my life. I must ask God to begin to build in me a heart that recognizes my bad behaviors as ‘fixable’….to allow him to remove all these defects in my character…and replace them with his love. 

Truth is…he needs all of us to be leaders in this world that has gone off target…he needs us all to clean up our testimony and shout to a lost world that the love they are searching for is not found in drugs…or violence…or alcohol…or lustful relationships…or money.  The love they seek…the only love that will fill our soul with permanent happiness is a relationship with God. We need to turn our focus off of filling our lives with ‘things’ that fade quickly away with the next day…to the love of God that drives us to be Godly people… hospitable, ones who love what is good, who are self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.

Father…I thank you for the reminder this morning that I must strive to be more Godly.  I thank you for this list of character traits that I can use to measure my life by….and start to recognize what things in my life hurt my ability to speak on your behalf. Forgive me anew this morning…as I am guilty…so undeserving of the second chances you give me  daily …to clean up these traits. Give me the strength and power I need to remove them for good this time.  Walk with me like you did Paul and Timothy and Titus…and make me strong.  Amen.