Friday, January 26, 2007

Titus, Pastor and Confessor

If you’re going to go into ministry what better way than in an exotic locale. And it doesn’t get more exotic than a Mediterranean island! Ah, such is the life of a pastor the apostle Paul sent to the island of Crete. Poor Titus. The burden he would have to bear in his service to the Lord.

Except, all that glitters is not gold. Paul in writing to Titus reminded him of what one of Crete’s own prophets had to say about those islanders: “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” [Titus 1:12]. So much for the vacation!

Paul tells Titus why left him in Crete: to set things in order in the Church there, to speak the Word of God [Titus 1:5 and Titus 2:1]. It doesn’t really matter, after all, what the Cretans were like. It doesn’t matter in the end where one serves the Lord. Everywhere around the globe there is a need for the Gospel to be made known. We can be grateful we have that little letter Paul wrote to Titus encouraging him to continue proclaiming that eternal Word to the people on that island. It’s a reminder for us also that the Word still goes out today--here, over there, and everywhere.

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