Tuesday, May 16, 2023

       Remind your people to submit to rulers and authorities, to obey them, and to be ready to do good in every way. ² Tell them not to speak evil of anyone, but to be peaceful and friendly, and always to show a gentle attitude toward everyone. ³ For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and wrong. We were slaves to passions and pleasures of all kinds. We spent our lives in malice and envy; others hated us and we hated them. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior was revealed, ⁵ he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us. ⁶ God poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly on us through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that by his grace we might be put right with God and come into possession of the eternal life we hope for. ⁸ This is a true saying.

       I want you to give special emphasis to these matters, so that those who believe in God may be concerned with giving their time to doing good deeds, which are good and useful for everyone. ⁹ But avoid stupid arguments, long lists of ancestors, quarrels, and fights about the Law. They are useless and worthless. ¹⁰ Give at least two warnings to those who cause divisions, and then have nothing more to do with them. ¹¹ You know that such people are corrupt, and their sins prove that they are wrong.                                                                                                               Titus 3:1 – 11 

       Avoid stupid arguments.  Some people love arguments, debating.  At Asbury, we stayed up late into the night just arguing, debating.  What if we had prayed?!  Arguments divide; thus, the USA is divided by the constant argument between left and right, between Dems and Reps.  There’s no room in the church, especially in the pulpit, for people who cause division or people who capitalize on the division caused by others.  It is written, “As far as it depends on you, live in peace with everyone.”  Did I do all I could do to stay UM?  Have I caused too much division among God’s people, within God’s churches, by my stupid arguments?  O God, make us one, and Lord, forgive my weaknesses and clean up the junk I’ve left behind me.  Amen!