Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
“Timing is so important! If you are going to be successful in dance, you must be able to respond to rhythm and timing. It’s the same in the Spirit. People who don’t understand God’s timing can become spiritually spastic, trying to make the right things happen at the wrong time. They don’t get His rhythm – and everyone can tell they are out of step. They birth things prematurely, threatening the very lives of their God-given dreams.” ~ T. D. Jakes
Almost 30 years ago, my grandmother persuaded me to go dancing with her at a local barn dance. My grandmother came from a musical family, and she and her sisters were excellent dancers. My great-grandfather and his brother played the fiddle and other instruments at area dances “back in the day,” and their daughters learned to foxtrot, waltz, and two-step to their familiar folk tunes. On the other hand, I knew nothing of this sort of dance, save a semester of “folk dance” class in college. But my grandmother insisted I tag along… so I went with her. It wasn’t long before a very nice older gentleman friend of my grandmother’s named Jack asked me to dance. I politely declined, but my grandmother insisted I try. “He’s a good dancer,” she assured me. “Go on and dance with him.”
In the arms of an experienced lead dancer, even someone with two left feet like mine can do fairly well. Jack gave me a quick lesson in how the steps went and then said, “Just follow me.” He led me across the floor with ease… and I don’t think I stepped on his feet too many times! While I didn’t fare as well with a few other dance partners, Jack’s early guidance did make for a much more enjoyable night.
Paul challenges Titus in these first few verses to be an agent of God… an earthly, physical “lead” for God’s Spiritual dance. He gives Titus a list of character traits and qualities that will mold men and women into great “dancers” for God’s chorus line… temperance, dignity, wisdom, faith, love, endurance (patience), reverence, goodness…people of order who don’t gossip or drink to excess…people who are disciplined and conscientious.
You and I are the dancers in life… and God is our “lead.” If we pay attention and allow Him to guide us… if we learn His rhythm and follow His instructions… we can deliver a pretty solid performance. In His arms, we will glide across the “floor” of life. There will be some missteps… some bruised toes… and maybe even a stumble or two. But in all, we can rest in God’s rhythm with the assurance of things turning out as He intended. We will encounter other “dance partners” – most of whom the devil plants in front of us – but the outcome will usually be far less than stellar… with more than a few sore toes created in the process!
The question becomes… Who is your lead? How are you “dancing” through life? Do you have a solid grasp of God’s timing… or are you bumbling your way through with what are often spastic results? Are you patiently seeking your God-given dreams, or do you birth things prematurely. Is your life one of solid doctrine, as Paul describes to Titus… or are you impatiently trying to orchestrate things on your own? The choice is ours... we’ve been given a perfect example of how to live in Jesus… and reminders through scripture, in case we have any questions. What will you do with all of this? How well will you “dance?”
©2013 Debbie Robus
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