In his letter to Titus, Paul instructed him to urge bondslaves to show all good faith by adorning the doctrine of God in every respect (Tit. 2:9-10). How were they to go about doing this? By being “subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, [and by] not pilfering” their master’s property.
In other words, they were to get up in the morning and hit the floor running. They were to be the very best they could be in spite of the fact that they were in the position of being a slave. Slaves had no legal or natural rights. In some ways, they were merely glorified animals–possessions of their master. To these who lived in the poorest, most restricted circumstances, Paul says, “You have been chosen to adorn the doctrine of God.”
Example is so important. Christians ought to be the best workers, the best students, the best teachers, and the most dependable employees in every community. What a difference would be made if the whole world knew that being a Christian meant working harder and being more conscientious in performing assigned responsibilities!
A second way we adorn the doctrine of God is by our patterns of speech. Paul tells slaves not to be argumentative. Critical, cutting, or attacking remarks ought to be absence from our daily conversation about others. The Bible says that “every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned” (Mt. 12:36-37). James described the tongue as a fire and said that it is set on fire by hell (Jas. 3:6). Imagine the kind of fire that reaches all the way down to that lake of fire we call hell. If there is anything in this world that can be controlled by hell, it is the tongue. A marriage can be wrecked by the tongue. A reputation can be ruined by the tongue. A child’s spirit can be broken by the tongue. How many tears are shed each day as a result of unkind and hurtful words. Paul says that controlling the tongue is one way we adorn the doctrine of God. Religion is worthless self-deception unless we learn to bridle the tongue (Jas. 1:26). We plan to conclude this series in next week’s bulletin.