word for our consideration. We’re reminded that “the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” Then comes a wonder ful word of assurance: “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be follow ers of that which is good?” We urgently need to be reminded of these duties. The present imperative in the grammatical structure of the passage implies a consistent continu ation. We know what we’re to do, but these things should be impressed afresh on our conscience. Our duty is to be in subjection to the government, to rulers, and to authorities. The tense in the Greek shows this to be a voluntary subject ing. A real Christian could never be an anarchist. The real patriot is one who knows his Bible and follows its commands of life. C hapter F ourteen I t has been my earnest prayer that our studies in Titus have been spiritually illum in a tin g to your heart. They will be if you’ve been reading this wonderful letter all the way through, as it was originally, intended. There is a very thought-provoking poem which came to me based on this portion of Scripture. Paul has been urging Titus to see that the people on Crete maintained a proper family life in Jesus Christ. Mary had a little boy, His soul was white as snow, Who never went to Sunday school For Mary did not go. He never heard about the Lord To wake his childish mind; While others went to Sunday school This child was left behind.
But as he grew from babe to youth She saw to her dismay The soul that once was snowy-white Became a dingy gray. A t last she saw that he was lost And tried to win him back, But now the soul that once was white Had turned an ugly black. She even started back to church And Bible study too; She begged the preacher, “Is there not A thing that you can do?” He tried and failed, and answered, “Mary, We’re just too far behind; I tried to tell you years ago But you would pay no mind." And so another soul was lost Which once was white as snow; He could have gone to Sunday school But his mother wouldn’t go. There’s a lot of truth in that! Are you letting your children lose out because you’re tired or just sim ply lazy? Get into the Lord’s work if you love Christ. Give your chil dren a break. The Lord is so able and willing to do for us what we can not do for ourselves. But we must give Him the opportunity! I never study Titus 3:1-11 without recog nizing that truly the Holy Spirit of God has given us one of the most pertinent passages in the Bible con cerning our definite responsibilities. The obligation of the believer is to the government over him. The impli cations of this subjection to the gov ernment on the part of the citizen are further indicated by the words “to obey . . . to be ready unto every good work.” This would include the payment of taxes and dues, those things on which a government has to subsist. The limitation is that we can never be in disobedience to the 15
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