Sunday 8 July 2012

Issue 24 - Day 7


Titus 1

Titus 1:8-10
8)  But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
9)  Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
10)  For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:

My first challenge of the day. Are you given to hospitality? I don’t mean, do you invite people round for Sunday lunch on a regular basis, though that is a good start. I mean, when people drop in (and the fact they feel they can is a good indicator things are going right in the first place) do they feel welcome? Are they likely to run into someone else when they drop in? I know I have a cultural advantage in that we expect people to drop in, and expect them to stay and eat with us, if we are eating and so on. But, the same is taught in scripture, so if your cultural heritage does not match up to scripture then change. Be the one that people come to for advice, that everyone knows will listen, will take things calmly and give a godly answer to all things. But be a lover of hospitality.

Challenge number two, do know the word of God? I am good at quoting scripture, though not to the level the Jews of old were, quoting whole books. I struggle to give references for the quotes at times. Memorising scripture helps a lot. But when you are asked a question, is your first thought to say what the bible says? You need that word in your mouth to give encouragement, and to correct those that teach bad doctrine. Never be afraid to stand on the word of God. People may argue the interpretation, but no-one can argue with the words of God.

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