Friday; July 1

Centuries ago, the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to a minister working with the Christian church on the island of Crete. While my understanding of Cretan history is not extensive, I get the impression that they were a lot like 21st Century Americans. They seemed to relish independent thought and did not take their own morality as seriously as they should. In fact, Paul even quotes one of their own as saying, “Cretans are always liars, evil bests, lazy gluttons.”, then goes on to affirm the observation (see Titus 1:12-13). So, how did Paul instruct Titus to work in this type of environment? His words were relatively simple, “But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.” (Titus 2:1). In essence, stay above the fray and focus on things that are worth your time.

It is easy to get wrapped up in arguments and discussions that don’t really matter very much. It is tempting to become entwined in discussions that don’t have a whole lot to do with anything of significance. The problem is that, too often, we become so emotionally invested in these non-issues that we make them out to be more important than they should be. When we fall into this trap, we take our focus away from things that matter and waste our time arguing and debating things that turn out to be nonsense.

Let’s keep Paul’s warning in mind and invest our words in things that make good sense and truly matter. Time is short, let’s stay focused on what is important.

Think About It!

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