To What are you Attracted?

To What are you Attracted?  Titus 1.5-9

‘Order!  Order in the House!’  Paul tells Titus.  There must be order in the house of God, starting with the leadership.  There is a certain standard, as the primary leaders of the church, elders/pastors are biblically expected to uphold. But stay tuned, because I do not believe Paul’s words are strictly for church leaders. Paul reminds Titus: 

“The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”  Titus 1.5-9

I find something about this passage quite compelling.  Actually, I am rather attracted to it.  Paul was teaching Titus about church leaders, but honestly, shouldn’t you and I be attracted to the qualities Paul highlights? 

Allow me to personalize these character qualities to make my point. I believe that God is saying to me:  As a woman who claims my name, and calls herself a Christian, Christine, you should desire to be:

~blameless, ~not overbearing, ~or quick to anger,  ~ not given to drunkenness, violence or dishonesty.   Christine, rather choose to be hospitable, and ~one who loves what is good ~master the spiritual fruit of self control, be upright, ~holy ~disciplined.   Child, do not be swayed from the pure message of Jesus, my Son, and what he did on the cross and ~with all that you have and are, encourage others in its truth.  Perhaps you could substitute your own name, eh?                                                                                 

Yet I realize that could be a little much for some, but how about the simple principle of loving what is good?  Are you attracted to what is good? 

Honestly, I am not always attracted to good; sometimes I honestly do feel my baser side rearing its head.  What then? 

After that realization, it is mine to realign myself with God, to regroup to his way of thinking, rather than my own.  Isn’t that what I really want?! The psalmist, David, clearly struggled too … and was willing to express his intimate thoughts. 

“Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a faithful spirit within me,”¹ the man after God’s own heart prayed.

Like David, I know that only God can cleanse and renew me, setting my feet on higher ground.  David knew and acknowledged that God alone knew his thoughts; God alone could move him to right thinking, and so he gave God permission:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
  test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you,
 and lead me along the path of everlasting life.²

Picking up where David left off, Paul wrote, ‘Think about excellent things.’  Look what he wrote about choosing our thoughts~ ~whatever is true,  ~whatever is noble ~whatever is right  ~whatever is pure,    ~whatever is lovely, ~whatever is admirable … if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.³

This is my daily prayer, ‘May my words and my thoughts be pleasing to you, God!’^{4 ‘}And God?  Please help me be attracted to what is good.’  Amen.’