Live in harmony...but you don't mean him, right? (titus 3)

Have we forgotten where we came from?

I have an issue with saying things I shouldn't when I get too hungry. My blood sugar gets low and I start wanting to tell people just what I think about them. When I'm hungry my thoughts usually aren't very nice. When I was in college I was over at my girl friends house, her roommate came in to fill us in on the date she just had. Well she was really telling my girlfriend. This was talk not intended for male ears. I don't mean in the mushy romantic sense either. It was female locker room talk concerning the physical build of this guy.

We were in the kitchen and I was working on making dinner, so I was getting close to having food in my system, sugar in my blood, and control of my mouth, but I didn't have it yet. I couldn't take it anymore and my not nice thoughts came bursting forth. "I'm sure glad you got your slab of meat for the night, that's all you think guys are!" It got so quiet, she was stung, and I felt like the biggest jerk ever.

In Titus Chapter 3 Paul tells Titus to remind those around him to submit to authority and be obedient. He goes on to say, we also need to live in harmony with everyone and not bring slander against anyone. We are to treat everyone with humility. Why? Because we used to be the same way. We used to be consumed with the lusts of this world, malice, and all kinds of mess.

Paul emphasizes it was only through the kindness, love, and mercy of God that we have been saved, renewed, made clean by the Holy Spirit. In fact the only people Paul tells us to shun are religious people who are stuck in arguments over the law dividing the body of Christ. In other words those who are not living in harmony with those around them. Those who have forgotten that they were forgiven, those who have forgotten where they came from.

Making that kind of comment to my girlfriends roommate that night was sooooo not in harmony and humility especially coming from a guy who has his own issues with purity. I had forgotten who I was, where I came from, and the loving God who had forgiven me.

When I approach God with my sin I do so expecting to find a loving God who will forgive me. This is the God the scriptures teach about and promise we will meet when we confess our sins and even if we are caught in the act. Jesus forgives the woman caught in adultery, he hangs out with prostitutes and sinners. Jesus didn't even have anything to be forgiven for and he was still merciful.

Why shouldn't people who approach me come with the same expectation of kindness, love, mercy, and grace. If I am made in the image of God, forgiven and recreated in the image of God, shouldn't people be able to expect the same from me? Can people come to you with the expectation of finding love and forgiveness?

Today, may we truly learn what it means to be kind, humble, loving, and grace-filled. May we remember were we came from and how far we still have to go as we live in harmony with those around us.