Passage of the Day:
You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. 3 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. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 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. 6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 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, Titus 2:1-8.
Reflection:
Sound faith is found in individuals who cling to biblical Christian doctrine based upon the apostles teaching. This is demonstrated when faith is expressed through the love of Jesus. As the apostle Paul writes a letter to a leader of the Church in Crete, he understands the cultural obstacles that Titus is up against. From a modern perspective, this would be like being the pastor of the church located on the Las Vegas strip. There are people losing control daily, falling prey to the acts of the flesh, Galatians 5:19-21. Subsequently, when a person in Crete put their faith in Jesus, there were plenty of sinful desires that a new convert needed to purge from their lives. This spiritual transformation was likely a slow process due to the wild lives of a typical Cretan. Developing a sound faith takes time, the process of arriving where God wants you.
Prayerful Action:
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it, Romans 7:18-20.
Fueling your Faith this Spiritual Season:
Romans 7 is the apostle Paul’s confession of his own struggle with the sinful nature after converting to Christianity on the Road to Damascus, Acts 9:1-19. In a letter to the Church at Corinth, Paul speaks about a thorn in his flesh, either a physical ailment or spiritual war raging inside of Paul’s soul, 2 Corinthians 12:6-7. Therefore, if today’s devotion finds you far from living a sound faith, God will make everything beautiful in His time, Ecclesiastes 3:11. As you follow the advice in Colossians 3:1-8 to take off your past desires by putting on Jesus, a time will come when you’ll start to live out a sound faith.
Song of the Day:
Final Thoughts:
From time to time, I let certain parts of my life slide. The longer I let bad habits reign in my life, the harder it becomes to break free from my past. May today’s song inspire you to start purging the things in your life pulling you away from God so that you can get back on track to develop a sound faith.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 