2 But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. ² Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.

³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, ⁴ so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

⁶ Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; ⁷ in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, ⁸ sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

⁹ Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, ¹⁰ not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, ¹² instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

¹⁵ These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Titus 2

Dear God, this chapter all seemed to be one thought, so I thought I would keep it together. As I read the admonitions for each category of people I started to wonder how I would parse through it. Thankfully, Paul helped me out by summarizing things in verses 11-14:

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, ¹² instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

So I need to:

• Deny ungodliness
• Deny worldly desires
• Live sensibly
• Live righteously
• Be godly
• Look for hope

The first five are kind of no-brainers, but the last one is interesting given the chapter I just read this last weekend in a marriage book my wife and I are reading with the couple’s group we are in at church. The book is called Habits for a Healthy Marriage by Richard Fitzgibbons. Chapter 6 is titled “Hope Reduces Sadness and Loneliness.” I kind of scoffed at that title at first because I think I was using a definition of hope, and assumed he was using a definition for hope, that I think is very American and prosperity gospel-ish. A lot of times, when people tell me to not give up hope or that things will turn out alright, they are talking about everything working out the way I want it to or in my favor. But I think Paul has it right here. My hope is in you. It is in your return. It is in the idea that you won. I don’t know exactly what that looks like or how I will experience that, but I know that is what Paul is saying here. Now, it’s a long way around the block to link hope, even in you and the world to come, to reducing my sadness and loneliness. I suppose to some extent it does, but sometimes we are just in the valley of the shadow of death and we need to slog through it. And I’ll slog through it with my hope in you, but that hope will have varying degrees of impact on my sadness and loneliness now.

Father, I have friends who are sad right now because of loved ones they’ve lost. Use the hope in the new earth to encourage them. I have friends who are worried about their illnesses and afraid of death for themselves or their spouse. Use the hope in the new earth to encourage them. I have friends who are worried about their children’s health, their children in general, their own lives and provision for their basic needs. Use the pain of their situations to drive them closer to you. Of course, there are those in the war zones around the world. Oh, Father, please help them and make the death stop. Make the suffering and torture stop. Heal the traumas. Heal us, Father.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen