Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.
Titus 2:6
Everybody, and I mean everybody wants to be young. They want to stay young. They want to slow down the clock that’s moving them to the time when they won’t be young any longer. They also want to turn back the clock and return to that time that they were young.
If there’s any doubt in your head, just watch and listen to commercials. I can’t tell you how many products are out there that promise to make you look years younger. To tighten up your sagging skin. To remove those lines on your face. To give your hair that shine it had when you were young.
But there’s more. It’s about more than just looking young. You’ve got to feel young too. There are all sorts of products that promise to give you the energy that you had long ago. To make you able to perform like you used to. To get rid of the pain and stiffness so you can return to your winning ways at pickleball.
Paul’s not telling Titus to go to the men who want to look and act young, but are actually young. They need some specific help in their faith walk, and Titus is just the guy to be used by God to deliver it.
Now, it’s one thing to want to help people. And that’s fine. But it’s something all together different to figure out how to do it. It can be much more difficult to have the right approach for helping them. Sometimes in life, the how is tougher than the what.
That’s why Paul helps Titus to know exactly how to help these young men. It’s not through a podcast or blog. It’s not even through a series of short and funny videos that everyone can share on their phones. No, it’s something more direct. Simpler. Easier.
Titus needs to encourage them. He needs to live it and then urge them to follow his example. He’s to stand right next to them and show them. He’s to sit with them and explain it. He’s to walk with them and live it.
Obviously, this isn’t the modern-day way of doing things. Today, you have to yell and scream at people, or at least into the camera. You have to do and say outrageous things to get people’s attention. To be heard above all the noise and constant distractions coming from our phones. Our lives.
Let me encourage you to know that encouragement is still the best way to communicate and get people to agree with you. To have people follow you to a different place. To live differently.
Having people follow is much better than trying to force them to go in a certain direction. People, in general, don’t like to be driven like cattle. When leaders demand action, they may get it on the outside, but will lose people on the inside.
People would rather follow someone who’s in front of them. Someone that they can see as they move forward. Someone calling to them from in front to join them. To be with them. To follow them.
Paul can say this to Titus because he’s been doing and saying this for a long time.
Follow me as I follow Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1
And what’s the first thing that these young men need? What’s at the top of the list for young men to change in their lives? Where do they need the most help when it comes to living? Where can the biggest change take place? Self-control.
Yes, self-control. They don’t need encouragement for learning how to play video games or how to study for the big exam coming at the end of the term. They need to learn the art of controlling themselves so someone else doesn’t have to do it for them.
In our age, self-control is becoming a lost art. We need an app on our phone to constantly remind us what to do. We need alarms and buzzers to go off when we start to stray. We need someone else to be on our back, keeping us on the straight and narrow.
But then again, our times tell us that there’s no right or wrong. And since we get to figure out what’s good for us, what does it matter. If nothing’s wrong, then there’s no such thing as a wrong decision. A wrong action. A wrong way of living.
When we give ourselves to Christ, to forgive our sins, we give him control over our lives. He’s God and we’re not. This means that he gets to direct us in the way we should live[1]. And our job is to follow his loving direction and commands.
Isn’t about time for us to start following the one who loves us? To put down our right to make decisions. To stop thinking that we have the authority to do what we want. God’s calling us to a better way of living where he takes all the burdens, and we can rest in him. Today’s the day to start letting God be God, whether we’re young or not.
Noodling Questions.
How has your definition of young changed over the years?
Are you more of a follower or a leader? Explain.
Where can we be better followers of Jesus?
[1] Psalm 119:35
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