To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus 1:4
It was very early one Saturday morning that Mary Ann got up to use the bathroom. She wasn’t in there very long when she came out and just stood there in the doorway. And since I always sleep on my right shoulder facing away from the middle of the bed, I had to sit up and turn to see her. “What’s wrong?” I asked in my best middle of the night tone.
With a quiet and quivering voice, she said, “I think my water just broke.” This was followed by her nervous laugh that always means something more than just laughter. I immediately jumped into action. Getting fresh clothes for Mary Ann. Cleaning up. Calling the doctor’s answering service.
A few hours later we were in a hospital where our son Daniel Keith was delivered by cesarean. When Dan first appeared, he was crying and flailing his little arms and legs. After cleaning him off a bit and wrapping him in a blanket, they handed him to me. It’s a moment that I’ll never forget.
There’s no doubt about who Dan is. I was there from the beginning. From the moment of his birth. From his first gasp of breath. I was there. I saw him with my own two eyes. I held him in my arms. I felt his tiny hand wrap around my finger. Dan is my son and no one can ever change that. No one can take him away from me. He’s burned into my head and heart.
In a real sense, Paul’s saying pretty much the same thing about Titus. He’s not just Paul’s average son. Not just a normal, run of the mill son. No. Titus is Paul’s own son. His true child. There’s no doubt about their relationship.
But there’s a specific reason that Paul calls Titus his one, true son. And it has nothing to do with genetics. They don’t share any DNA. If they went to Ancestry.com®, they wouldn’t find any people in common.
They don’t have much of what we think of as important in common. They don’t have the same job. They don’t come from the same neighborhood. They don’t share the same hobbies. They’re not even members of the same social media groups.
What brings them together is something a whole lot more important than any of this. It’s their faith. Their personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ is the foundation to their connectedness.
Jesus is more than just the glue that holds the universe together[1]. He’s the one who brings total opposites like Paul and Titus together. But God doesn’t stop there. He does much more than just bring Christians together. He joins them together so much more than any Super Glue could. They rejoice and weep together[2]. And to show that they’re so different from the world, they live in harmony with one another[3]
This deeply close and personal relationship between Paul and Titus makes me think about the closing scene in Mrs. Doubtfire. Robin Williams describes family relationships where everyone may not be in the same house. Or even in the same city. There may be great gaps of time in between when they get together. He closes with some very moving words, “Those are the ties that bind[4].”
Will we hear these words? More importantly, will we live these words? If you name the name of Jesus as your God and King, then you have a God-given responsibility to love others in the faith. Period. No exceptions.
I’m to look at you as someone who God made. You have his fingerprints all over you. This makes you a person of incredible and eternal value. But more than that, you’re someone that Jesus died for.
And why should I look at you like this? Because I’m someone that God made too. I also have his fingerprints all over me. God says that I have incredible and eternal value. And when Jesus dies for you, he also died for me.
In Christ, this makes us both true sons and daughters. We’re both are true brothers and sisters in the Lord. We’re both part of God’s forever family. We’re united in a way that’s just too good to be true.
And since we both have the same eternal Heavenly Father, what do you think God’s reaction is when we fight? When we argue? When we hold grudges? When we throw mud at each other? When we think that we’re so superior to them?
Titus was a true son of Paul. And in Jesus Christ we’re his true sons and daughters. Isn’t it time we started acting out the truth that God has said?
Noodling Questions
How does being a true child of God make everything different?
Is it our belief that makes us God’s children? Explain.
How do true children act differently from other children?
[1] Colossians 1:17
[2] Romans 12:15
[3] Romans 12”16
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