Titus 2:9-10
9 Exhort servants [doulos] to be obedient [hupotasso]
unto their own [idios] masters [despotes], and to [einai] please them
well [euarestos] in [en] all [pas] things; not [me] answering again [antilego];
10 Not [me] purloining [nosphizomai], but [alla] shewing [endeiknumi] all [pas] good [agathos] fidelity [pistis]; that [hina] they may adorn [kosmeo] the
doctrine [didaskalia] of God [theos] our [hemon] Saviour [soter] in [en] all things [pas]. KJV-Interlinear
9 Urge bondslaves to be subject
to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10
not pilfering, but showing all good faith that they may adorn the doctrine of
God our Savior in every respect. NASB
The word for servants, doulos,
refers to all categories of servants, employees, hired labor, contract labor,
and so forth.These include people who
have entered into a relationship with a master (employer) either by voluntary or
involuntary means.
Anyone who has entered
into a relationship of labor, of their own volition or were somehow forced into
the circumstances of slavery, are to abide by the terms of the arrangement,
whatever those terms are, so long as they are legal and right.
This does not mean that
that the master (employer) has the rights of a tyrant, to do with the subordinate
person as he pleases.
Note that the Bible does
not take up issue with ones chosen cultural style. So if you choose to have a
beard, wear long dresses, use high tech to the max, drive a buggy or a jag,
these things make no difference to your spiritual life or to your spiritual
growth.
Not everyone is going
to be a mountain climber, a doctor, or a candlestick maker. Again, your vocation is never an issue in
your spiritual life.Everyone has free
choices and opportunities to follow their life's interests.
Whether free man or
slave, is irrelevant as well.
God placed us all in
this world and God placed us all in many different situations. These things
were done in order to glorify God, not you.
No person has the right
to presume that their successes and achievements and acquired status s in life
are of their own doing. They are not.God
gives and God removes.No one has
anything that did not come from God.
You were not placed in
this world in order to be first in this class, first in the race, first in
anything, to acquire massively for your own benefit alone. Although, and I emphasize, although, it is
not wrong per se to pursue these things in life.
Remember our study of reservoirs? God established reservoirs of all sorts for things
for the perpetuation and support of humanity.
From large deposits of oil
and coal, to a large atmosphere of air surrounding the planet, to people of
ability for accumulating wealth which leads to jobs and commerce, to gravity,
to the universe, to genetics, to the divine establishment principles that keeps
humanity afloat, to imagination and technology and innovation, to just about
anything you can think of.God has made
these things for your benefit.
A rich man has one set
of rules that govern him. A poor man
has the same set of rules.Both have to
be fair and honest from their respective positions.
Both will die and both
bodies will rot equally without prejudice from the worms. Both will enter heaven, or worse, and both
will be confronted with the same set or rules (again) from God.
To be argumentative, to
cheat, to try to gain some advantage over someone else, is contrary to Gods
instruction.If your gains come at the
expense of another, then your gains are ill-gained.
But look around us today, far too many are swarming like piranha around those
who are losing their homes through foreclosure, through short sale schemes, through
hard money loan sharking.Far too many
cheat in life with impunity, for their own selfish
gain.And to what end?
Everyone will soon
leave this world, and what they have, will be lost instantly.
So whether slave or
rich man, your life depends not on your circumstances, not on your inability to
make ends meet, not on your ability to scheme better than the next guy, but on
the content of your soul with respect to Gods Word.
God is glorified when He
demonstrates that no matter what a persons circumstances in this devils world,
and the devil has been given wide latitude in running the world, that God can
take any set of situations and bring anyone to spiritual maturity.
And in so doing, and this
is the whole point of the study, God can bring any person to phenomenal success
for eternity.
Our destiny is not in
this world, but in the next.But too,
that does not mean that we do not do our very best with the gifts that God has
given each of us.
Who do you know that is
alive now, and is over 150 years old, or over 200 years old, or is a 1000 years
old?No one. Where are all of the many hundreds of
billions of people who have been born since Adam and Eve? Where are they? Not here, and that is for sure.
Where are your great-great-great
grandparents?Dead. Where will you be when you reach your
eightieth, or ninetieth, or one-hundredth birthday? You will most likely be dead.
If God has placed you
in the position of slave, or diaper changer, or financial wizard, the blame or credit
is not yours.You are neither a better
nor worse person for your situation.
What you have no excuse
for, is your lack for spiritual growth, because that is by your choice.
When you arrive at the pearly
gates, heaven does not check your balance sheet or your membership cards, or
your empty pockets.Heaven checks only
the content of your soul.
How you conduct
yourself in this life is a reasonable reflection of the status of your
spiritual life.And by the way, you are
not here to check up on anyone else.People
will make mistakes along the way and they should be given the opportunity to correct
their own mistakes.
You check up on
yourself and keep your own house in order.
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