Titus' Plight ~ Paul's Tenacity

Titus 1:5 "The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town as I directed you."

I was speaking with a friend recently about how sometimes we have relationships with people that allow us to speak bluntly and exactly what is on our mind and know that the other person won't misinterpret or be hurt or offended by what we say.

Let me give you an example:

When I was in a ministry in another state several years ago, I had a good friend who was in a crisis of belief. It was discovered that he was the owner of a large quantity of pornographic magazines, videos and paraphernalia that no doubt had a monetary value of well in to the thousands of dollars. He had amassed the collection over the course of at a least a couple of decades.

Without going into the long story and incredible details of how he had destroyed his family and eventually landed in prison after shooting a man. That day, he came to me in tears and begged me for help. I told him quite bluntly: " (Name), You know what you have to do." We spent a couple of hours gathering and weeping and praying and talking.

We took every bit of what he had hidden throughout the house and his vehicle and created a massive bonfire.

There were many times before and after that day that I could say to him whatever he needed to hear and he would accept it.

This is the kind of relationship that Paul had with Titus. Titus was a man that was actually led to faith in Christ by Paul himself.. 1:4 "My true son in our common faith.."

Paul was telling Titus to do what he knew he had to do even in the face of opposition and insubordination from within the church, especially from the Jews, who were more concerned about issues like circumcision than true conversion. 1:10 "For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers, and decievers, especially those of the circumcision group...";

Titus was encouraged by Paul to take care of business the way he knew it ought to be done. We need friends like this in our lives, don't we? People who allow us to speak bluntly, but more important, we need to have friends in our lives who have permission to do the same to us. To tell us when we're off track, to tell us we are wrong, to tell us when our breath stinks, and know that we will love them for it.

Who is your Paul?