1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone. 3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. (Titus 3:1-3) The Apostle Paul speaks to Titus in the first and second chapters of the letter, telling him that he left him in Crete to set in order the things that were lacking and to appoint elders who are sensible and sound in the faith. However, Paul mentioned something important that Titus should pay attention to before carrying out his mission. He says in chapters 2:7-8, "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." This means speaking words that are sound and beneficial for building up. In verse 5, the Apostle says, "so that no one will malign the word of God," and here, "so that those who oppose you may be ashamed." In chapter 3:3, it provides an answer to the previous verse. Why should we be gentle and show all humility to all men? The answer is, "At one time we too were foolish," with bad qualities, and we are no better than them. What were we before? "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord" (Ephesians 5:8). Consider the Apostle Paul, who was walking in the wrong path and then changed completely after the Lord appeared to him. The appearance of the Lord was the turning point in his life. His outlook on matters changed, and his thinking changed, everything changed. He says, "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ" (Philippians 3:7). What I thought was gain and righteousness and gold, I found to be rubbish. This rubbish is not his sins but his own righteousness. He clung to his own righteousness, only to find it rubbish to be cast away after Christ appeared to him. "I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:8). The principle of life before faith was foolishness. "All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts" (Ephesians 2:3). The man who said, "I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry’" (Luke 12:18-19) was foolish. This was our state before faith. We were living for ourselves and living for the world. "Disobedient" is a characteristic of old nature. The children of disobedience are disobedient to God, disobedient to parents, and disobedient to authorities—rebellious. But the believer has been visited by grace, and the Holy Spirit has dwelt within him, as it is written: "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:4-5). We learn obedience from Christ, who "humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:8). Wanderers: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way" (Isaiah 53:6). Each one has turned to their own path. One strayed in the path of lust, another in the love of money, and so on. All these are paths of wandering away from God. The younger son, when he strayed and left his father's house, thought he was free from his father's watchful eye and had the freedom to indulge in his desires, but he found that it was not freedom but slavery. "Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). Remembering this work of God builds four things in us:
Gratitude: It builds in us gratitude for the extent of the change God has made within us.
Humility: It builds in us humility when we realize that the cause of our transformation is the work of God.
Kindness: It builds in us kindness toward others who are in the same state we were once in.
Faith: Finally, it builds in us faith in God's ability to change those who are still in that state.
Iman Karras