Word of Life Christian Center - Daily Devotional

Word of Life Christian Center - A Church That Worships The True and Living God.

Hello and welcome to the Manna From Heaven daily devotional page. These devotionals are created by our Pastor, Rev. Dr. Frederick M. Thompson. Since this is a new process for our webpage, please feel free to leave your feedback below. I pray that you are as blessed as I am by these wonderful, anointed devotionals! God bless!

Manna from Heaven

Instructions for Various Groups, Pt. 2
Titus 2:1-10

You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

The pastoral leader is in a position to give instructions to the church as well as proclaim the Word of the Lord to those outside the church. In a culture such as ours where there is a “flexing” of sorts with regards to a sense of individual autonomy, the pastoral leader must still offer instructions in the name of the Lord. Here Titus begins with the older men. They should be able to serve as anchors and building blocks within the faith community. Their mere time on earth did not qualify them to serve in the aforementioned ways. Elder Shawna Adams said it well years ago when she wisely asserted, “Time in service just won’t do!” In other words, one must do more than allow time to pass if one wants to grow in the Lord and be what God has ordained for them to be. The older men were expected to be temperate and self-controlled—demonstrating the ability to manifest an even temperedness in life rather than moving over into excesses and a lack of judgment. Moreover, they were to be worthy of respect. In order for respect to be given by others, it must be earned. It can be earned through character, dignity and a life that is shown to be about Christ and His will. The older men were expected to be worthy of respect and they certainly needed to live lives that demanded respect on the strength of godliness and holiness.

Additionally, the older men were to be sound in faith. Is Paul talking about the ability to pull down blessings through prayer? Many times faith is not seen in enjoying the good that God has for you. Faith is seen best when it is dark and you can barely see the road. Faith is seen best when there are no answers to the piercing questions that eat away at your peace. Sound in faith means standing with God, and in God, and trusting in God in spite of what you detect with your physical senses. We must live by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). The older men needed to be sound in their faith for their own sake and for the sake of others who would examine their lives to see if there is any evidence that would suggest that the older men could serve as examples.