"And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone." - Titus 3:8
Amidst all the sorrow, darkness, and tragedy that rightly has filled the airwaves in the last few days, God encourages us, through Paul, to trust God and do good because good that flows out of trusting God is always profitable for everyone.
How so?
How are trusting God and doing good excellent and profitable for everyone (Titus 3:8)?
Well, recently I said to my 17 year-old daughter, "Cassidy, you're nice to everyone." She replied, "Well, Dad, that's because you are."
What others (whether they're our children or otherwise) see us do is what they're encouraged to do. It is profitable to do good because it encourages others to do good.
But good, mind you, comes in at least two packages: 1) modeling plain ol' good and 2) modeling what is good to do when you don't do good.
Last night, one of my kids confessed something to me that they weren't proud of. I told him/her that I was proud of them for confessing. "Well, Dad, you've taught us the blessing of confessing."
When we surrender to the Holy Spirit and confess our sin, God's Holy Spirit works a good spirit of humility in those who see us confess and apologize and make amends.
But there's still at least one more good that profits everyone, and that is the good of trusting and praising God even when difficulty, death, and tragedy surround us. Some people have given up on God in the last few days. But, in my experience, the vast majority of people are looking around to see if anyone is going to do good. They want to see if anyone will still look to God, even in the face of great, horrific, and inexplicable tragedy.
Jesus did on the cross, when he was paying the immeasurable penalty for all sin, he cried, "My God, My God...", looking to God even as he sensed the abandonment of God.
And God worked the ultimate good through that cross, the forgiveness and therefore salvation of the whole world.
The ultimate good that profits everyone who believes that "Jesus died for you!"
As is said earlier in Titus 3:4-7, "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, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."
Aaaah, eternal life, life with God now and forever. The ultimate blessing from the ultimate good.
Thus we can understand God through Paul, who says, "And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone." (Titus 3:8)
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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