Contemplative Bible Reading

Titus 3:2 (English Standard Version)

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

Yuck. What life. Hated by others and hating one another.

I sometimes ask young adults to experiment with something: For the next week, hate everyone you see. Look at them and hate them as hard as you can hate. Come back and report how your life was.

No one has yet to perform the experiment. Yet, many of us have lived this experiment for a day or a minute or a second. Yuck. What a life. This is a horrible, terrible, tragic life.

Nevertheless, Paul tells Titus that Paul once lived this way. It was foolish and he was a slave to passions passing his days in malice and envy. Remember, Paul used to hunt for people who believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God. Paul tracked them down and killed them. He was passionate about this pursuit of deadly execution. Gosh, that must have been a horrible life.

Paul goes on here with one of the biggest “BUTs” in the history of writing:

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us…

Oh my. How can we ever thank God for that? We don’t have to live like that anymore. We don’t have to hate and be hated. We are freed from that slavery. Please God, help me in my unbelief.