Titus 1:12-13 – Comfort, Convenience, and Accountability

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith (Titus 1:12-13 ESV)

A sharp rebuke is the sort of conversation most of us don’t want to have. But the harsh reality is that is just the talk many of us need. We live in an age where many things come easily to us, with little effort or thought required. For example, a person finds he or she is in the mood for chicken, simple. Swing by the grocery store on the way home from work and pick up some chicken already baked and breaded, ready to eat! In short, our lives are permeated by comfort and convenience.

Comfort and convenience are not evil things, but can become detrimental. Even more so when we consider that the Cretans of Paul and Titus’ day didn’t have near the creature comforts we are surrounded by in our modern age.

When things come easily in our physical lives, we often allow that “comfort with ease” mentality to slip into to our spiritual walk. In fact, often times it can even dominate as the physical realm is intricately intertwined with the spiritual.

In order for us to keep a guard against comfort and ease dictating our spiritual and even physical well being we need accountability. Those same “lazy gluttons” in Crete were under the supervision and leadership of Titus, and therefore accountable to him as he was to them. But accountability doesn’t do a beneficial thing for us if we don’t receive rebukes along with praise. Find trustworthy accountability for your life, and once found, submit to it understanding that God uses rebukes that we may “be sound in the faith.”

Is your life lived in accordance first and foremost with comfort and convenience affecting your spiritual walk?

Luke 6:47-48 – Weathering The Storms

Daily Devotional Bible Verses

Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. (Luke 6:47-48 ESV)

If you grew up in the church, you probably heard the parable of the man building his house on the rock and the man who built his house on the sand when you were in Sunday school. We can often focus on the foundation of the man whose house was built on the rock. He obeys the words of Jesus and his house stays up. We often tend to ignore that this man also goes through the storm. Both of these men go through the same storm, but there is a different outcome for these men. The only difference is their foundation

We can learn a little nugget of truth from this parable. We learn that the Christian life isn’t about escaping the storms that come our way. The Christian life is about weathering the storms with Jesus as our foundation. Jesus never said that the man who does his words won’t have any problems in life. He says that the man who does his words will be able to make it through these problems because he has Jesus as his foundation.

What or Who is your foundation during the storms of life?

Luke 4:42-43 – Bigger is Better, Right?

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Luke 4:42-43 ESV)

As Jesus preached in Judea’s synagogues, the people were captivated because he taught “as one with authority,” (Mark 1:22) like no one they had ever heard. He would preach to thousands, heal the sick, and engage the destitute. In fact, at one point, his renown had so grown that the people sought to make him king by force (John 6:15).

Jesus could have easily stayed where he was and regularly had a large crowd gather in his presence. But what did Jesus do with this seeming success; did he set up headquarters and signs, pass out flyers, and increase seating capacity? Did he remain with those who begged him to stay and enjoy the fame and their adoration? Absolutely not, Jesus was blameless even in this and focused on his God ordained purpose.

We can look at success as a numbers game. The more people that come to my church or ministry, the more successful I am in the kingdom. Jesus is a great example for what success looks like as his followers. Jesus teaches us that success is not merely defined by popularity or crowds, but by obedience to God and his purpose for our life.

Find where you’ve remained when you should have pressed on in pursuing the Father’s purpose for your life, and then run after it.