Teaching by Example
Reading for Friday, February 19
Titus 2:1-15
I was fortunate to grow up in a multi-generational church where I witnessed Christians at varying stages of life and maturity. Those church members were my Sunday school teachers, my youth leaders, and people beside whom I worked on yearly mission trips. They taught me through word and example what it meant to live a Christian life.
The New Testament book of Titus is an instructional letter from Paul to Titus, a man sent by Paul to organize and oversee the churches on Crete. Titus 2: 1-15 details what values must be taught to and exhibited by various members of the church in order for those values to be passed on to future generations. Older men, for example, should be “temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance” in order for younger men to see how these values can be lived out in a practical manner. The chapter goes on to give similar instruction to younger men and older and younger women.
Read Paul’s words to Titus today and consider how your words and actions are seen by others. Do they offer examples of Christian values to which others in your family and congregation can aspire?
I feel blessed to have found a church in my adult life much like that of my youth, where I witness Christian examples at all stages of life. I pray that my family and yours will soak up the lessons so many in our congregation have to offer.
Shara Hoskins
Reading for Friday, February 19
Titus 2:1-15
I was fortunate to grow up in a multi-generational church where I witnessed Christians at varying stages of life and maturity. Those church members were my Sunday school teachers, my youth leaders, and people beside whom I worked on yearly mission trips. They taught me through word and example what it meant to live a Christian life.
The New Testament book of Titus is an instructional letter from Paul to Titus, a man sent by Paul to organize and oversee the churches on Crete. Titus 2: 1-15 details what values must be taught to and exhibited by various members of the church in order for those values to be passed on to future generations. Older men, for example, should be “temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance” in order for younger men to see how these values can be lived out in a practical manner. The chapter goes on to give similar instruction to younger men and older and younger women.
Read Paul’s words to Titus today and consider how your words and actions are seen by others. Do they offer examples of Christian values to which others in your family and congregation can aspire?
I feel blessed to have found a church in my adult life much like that of my youth, where I witness Christian examples at all stages of life. I pray that my family and yours will soak up the lessons so many in our congregation have to offer.
Shara Hoskins