Paul has been giving Titus some specific instructions for varying age groups within the church in Crete. He has covered older men and women, along with how the older women were to instruct the younger women. In this week’s passage, he moves on to the younger men.
You can see this passage in Titus 2:6-8:
Right off the bat, Paul tells Titus that the first thing needed among the younger men is self-control. Why? Because this may be the biggest problem area that younger men face. Developing self-control is something that will benefit almost every single part of their lives.
The term “younger men” usually referred to men under forty years of age in New Testament times. But if Paul’s instruction to Titus about older men was centered around men in their in their sixties or better, then that leaves a significant gap between the two. Because of this, Paul may be including men up to about sixty years of age in this category.
And self-control is definitely needed among this age group, even today. This phrase means to keep their heads, to be sensible, and to think clearly. This is the same idea exhibited in regard to the older men and women. With the frequency Paul uses this word and its various forms, it seem likely that this may have been a big problem on Crete.
If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.
After selecting your beans, the next consideration in making the perfect cup of coffee is the roast. While the roast is a critical aspect of experiencing the best flavors from the coffee beans, many people put too much emphasis on this element, and neglect the quality of the beans themselves, or the quality of the water used.
There are two basic categories a coffee connoisseur can choose from when selecting coffee beans, either pre-roasted and ready to go, or green, and ready to roast at home. The level of roasting, whether you do it yourself or not, contributes a lot of variances to the flavor of the coffee you are making. A lighter roast will be lighter in body, allowing you to taste the flavor of the bean clearly. A light roast hasn’t yet reached the internal temperatures needed to bring the coffee oils to the surface of the bean.
A darker roast loses much of the original flavor of the coffee bean, and you begin to taste the flavors associated with the roasting process. Darker roasts are generally much oilier, since the coffee’s oils are brought to the surface. And, the darker the roast, the less caffeine the coffee has.
Both degrees, and everything in between have their merits. What it boils down to is a matter of taste.
Thanksgiving is tomorrow here in the United States. This is the day of the year when we take the time to be grateful for the blessings that God has given us. However, gratitude should be practiced more than just this single day each year.
A thankful attitude has several tremendous benefits. There are ties to health and physical benefits. Some studies indicate that thankful people are less stressful people. Others suggest that gratitude benefits the emotional realm, and that negative emotions are reduced or eliminated when thankfulness is practiced.
Still another benefit of being grateful is the impact on our relationships. Thankful people are fun to be around and your relationships will benefit from surrounding yourself with those people.
However, there is one advantage of gratitude that supersedes all of these and more. Gratitude carries a benefit far greater than each of these. A thankful heart has one effect upon people that cannot be matched.
Grateful people have learned to rely completely upon the Lord.
You can do a study of the word thankful and all of its derivatives and find out that the Bible has much to say about the idea of gratitude. You will find out that being thankful is an example for us to follow, that thankfulness is a benefit for our spiritual lives, that it is, in fact, a part of God’s will for us.
Grappling With The Chronology Of The Genesis Flood by Steven W. Boyd & Andrew A. Snelling, Editors (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2014)
One of my favorite portions of the Bible are the first few chapters of Genesis. The narratives of Creation, the Fall, Noah’s Flood, and the Tower of Babel give incredible insights into the world we live in today. Everything from geology to theology can be explained through the events of these chapters.
One of the major events in this portion of Genesis is Noah’s Flood. And the questions of when it happened, and how long it lasted have been debated for ages.
Grappling With The Chronology Of The Genesis Flood seeks to resolve at least one of these questions by examining in detail the Hebrew grammar found in the Flood narrative. This looks to be a very comprehensive examination of the chronology of Noah’s Flood, and I’m excited to discover what conclusions the authors have reached.
I will post a full review when I finish the book, but in the meantime, you can pick up a copy of Grappling With The Chronology Of The Genesis Flood on Amazon.
European Coffee Capitals – We drink our coffee differently in America than they do in other places. Finding out how others drink their coffee is very interesting. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to spend some time in Costa Rica and Venezuela. I loved the difference in the way they drink coffee in those places, and have even adjusted my coffees to taste more like what I experienced there. This infographic gives a run down on three of the major coffee capitals in Europe.
Superheroes Reimagined As 16th Century Paintings – This is awesome! While the frilly collars are a bit much, the detail that this artist has included in these images is incredible. My favorites include Superman, Wonder Woman, and Darth Vader. Which is your favorite?
How Crayons Are Made – Although I wish this was more video and less still images, and would go into a bit more detail, I still found this pretty fascinating. My kids think I really do know everything when I tell them I know how crayons are made.
Paul’s instructions to Titus in the middle portion of his letter are broken down in order to address various groups within the churches that Titus is working with. First, Paul addressed older men. In this week’s passage, he addresses both older women and younger women.
You can see his encouraging words in Titus 2:3-5:
Paul begins this paragraph with an interesting word: “Likewise.” In the same way, then, Titus is to instruct the older women, and in turn, the younger women. This word seems to be one of Paul’s favorites in the Pastoral letters, indicating a close comparison to what just came before.
In this case, Paul instructed Titus what to each the older men. In the same way, he is to also instruct the older women to be reverent int he way that they live. Paul’s meaning here probably meant women who have families, but whose children are grown have already left the home and begun families of their own. These are women that no longer have children to train. But Paul indicates that simply because they no longer have the role of instructing their own kids on a daily basis does not mean that their work is finished. They can continue to pass on their knowledge to others. In order to do this, they are given four instructions.
