Wednesday 22 January, 2014

10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” 13 This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

“13 This is true. So reprimand them sternly to make them strong in the faith. 14 They must stop listening to Jewish myths and the commands of people who have turned away from the truth.”

Two things stand out to me here. The first is the warning about false teachers. The 2nd is the value of reprimand in strengthening faith. No one – especially me – likes to be reprimanded. I would prefer to get things right all the time and avoid being reprimanded at all costs. The truth is – I can’t get things right all the time. I do need to be pulled into line and I thank God for the times that He has used His people to do this. It has strengthened my faith.

God has called us to love one another to be accountable to one another and to keep one another committed to the truth of God’s word. That means at times we will need to be pulled into line – challenged about what or who we are listening to and we need to be receptive to this.

God help ME remember this – your are committed to strengthening my faith. Help me be committed to whatever it takes for that to occur.

Written by Ps. Linda Quinn