“A Model of Good Works”

 

     

                        As we live in this world, there a lot of things that are out of our control.  We cannot control what the stock market will do, we can’t dictate the weather, we can’t even control how other people treat us.  When we notice all the things that are beyond our control, it is easy to remember what we can control…ourselves.   As Paul imparts his words of wisdom from the Holy Spirit to Titus he says “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” (Titus 2:7-8) We mustn’t forget that the conditions that Titus was living in were not the most Christian.  Daily he was having to deal with pagans, sexual immorality, mercenaries and liars.  No matter how much work Titus did in Crete, he could not control the conditions that he was living in.  However, he could make a difference in their lives by the way he handled himself.  That is the only thing that we can control is how we live, how we respond, how we react.  When we do so in the right type of way, (following in the footsteps of Jesus) people will not have anything evil to say about us.  By our example, they just might allow our reactions to things to rub off on them.  Since there is a good bit in this world that we can’t control, let’s make sure we do a good job on what we can control.