We know from James that the Bible should be treated in some ways like a mirror - it enables us to see how we really are. As we read it we see God revealed and realise how far we fall short of His glory. As we read it we see our own rebellion, failure and inability identified and realise how we are not all He designed and desires us to be. As we read it His Spirit makes His words live, encouraging but also convicting. And was we read it and His Spirit convicts so also to we hear God lovingly call us to see His cleansing in Christ, know his eternal acceptance, and turn again to Him to experience the transforming work of His Spirit.
But as I read this passage in Titus 2:1-3:15 it struck me afresh that we are called not merely to use His word as a mirror ‘reactively’.
We often will respond to coming across a challenge or being convicted as we hear a sermon or have our Quiet Time. And that’s great! We must respond to the prompting of His Spirit as we read God’s word if we are loving obedient children of God. But that is like using a mirror at home when you happen to catch a look at yourself as you pass it by on the way out of the house - a chance sighting in the mirror in which we are somewhat surprised to find we don’t look as tidy as we think we are.
But a mirror is intended to be used proactively more than reactively. We deliberately set time aside with a mirror in the morning to check we look presentable. In the same way we are intended to use God’s word much more methodically, as well as devotionally, to check our heart state, our love for Him, our walk with Him, the fruit of the Spirit evident in us, our desire for His Kingdom purposes.
And so Titus was given this set of specific things to particularly teach this church. They needed to proactively see whether their lives reflected and brought glory to their wonderful saviour. Lack of progress in sanctification isn’t an option - it is fundamental to who we are in Christ.
Although such ‘tick lists’ have been terribly abused in the past, that does not stop us from ‘redeeming’ them wisely, all under the umbrella of God’s great patience with us and grace towards us. We are not to abuse such self-checks to become proud of achievements, on the one hand, or become self-beating introspective failures, on the other. But my observation is that our current evangelical culture abuses grace to overlook rampant anger, lack of self control, missing patience, slander and so much more. We dishonour God and destroy the gospel as a result. And what I see in the church I see in me.
Maybe it’s time to take God’s repeated calls to ‘examine yourselves’ seriously as a part of our daily walk with Him. We can do so under grace because ‘perfect love drives out fear’ - ‘there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’. Like the Psalmist in Ps 139, we can let our all-knowing God examine our hearts with perfect confidence in His love. Indeed, to do so is a vital expression of the ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness’ God writes on the heart of all true believers.
And we can start from these very verses. As a man or woman of God are these things revealed in Titus 2-3 still evdent in my life? What does God want to do in me to transform me? To seriously apply this passage to our lives would mean we have started to properly use the mirror God has provided.
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