‘Do Good’

Daily Devotional – Tuesday, August 31, 2021

“You yourself must be an example by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching.” (Titus 2:7, NLT)
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Reading through Paul’s letter to Titus, I was struck by how many times the words, ‘do good,’ ‘be good,’ ‘teach what is good,’ and other variations of the need for ‘goodness’ appear in the text.

He condemns those that have turned from the truth because even though they maintain a semblance of religiosity they are “worthless for doing good” (Titus 1:16). He encourages Titus to teach the congregation in Crete not to slander, not to engage in pointless arguments, drunkenness, violence or in rebellion to their civil authorities. Instead, they, and we by extension, should be “totally committed to doing good deeds” (2:14) so that “we will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way” (2:10).

Our good deeds are to make us stand out as Ambassadors of God. We are not to do good to earn our salvation, but out of our complete submission to God because of the salvation we have already received from Him. In Paul’s mind there is no legitimate reason for which a believer should not do good; “all those who trust in God should devote themselves to doing good” (3:8)

And it’s obvious that Paul’s concern is that the church engage in tangible acts of goodness, not merely the absence of ‘bad’ behaviour. “Our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others; then they will not be unproductive” (3:14). He began his letter by condemning those whose turning away from the truth had made them worthless for doing good and now concludes with his advice for ensuring that the congregation does not become ‘unproductive.’ His advice? Learn to do good! We cannot escape the fact, that when we neglect to do good, we are not living in obedience to God. Jesus has provided us with the sternest of warnings when it comes to being unproductive followers—we can’t be! We are either doing good and producing fruit through our obedience to Him or we risk being cut off and thrown into the fire (John 15:1-8). Is it any wonder Paul felt an urgency to encourage the church in Crete to do good? We, too, would do well to heed his advice.
~ Pastor Jane