Titus 3:1-2

My wife accuses me of being forgetful; I’m not, I choose not to remember. Either way, the result is the same; I end up not doing something she thinks I should do. The same is true for many Christians.

Paul told Titus that he should remind the people of some of the things they should do. Paul knew it is impossible for anyone to always remember everything, and that everyone sometimes needed to be reminded. However, he also knew that the more we do something, the more likely we are to continue doing it under pressure.

We need to be reminded that we are to be subject to authority. That is not because we are all old and forgetful, it is because of sin (the power of evil let loose in the world). Sin has damaged many of us in such a way that we have trouble accepting authority. At a very early age we hear children saying, “You can’t tell me what to do, you’re not the boss of me.” Christians have a higher authority, but God does not give us permission to ignore earthly authority. As a rule, we do not get to pick and choose what laws we obey.

We need to be reminded to do good whenever there is opportunity. That is not because we are bad, it is because we sometimes have bad priorities. Being ready to do good, requires being ready to put something else aside to take the time to do good.

We all know that we shouldn’t talk bad about people, and that we should be considerate of others. We know that we should be peaceable and gentle. We do not forget this, but sometimes we just do not do this.

Not all messages provide new information. When a preacher reminds us of these truths that Paul listed, there is seldom anything new in the message. A message does not have to be new to be important. A reminder of how to live Christlike as always worth repeating.