Titus 2:10 Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
All of us wake up every day with an equation of reward and consequence, things that we know will happen because of something we do. For instance, the alarm clock goes off in the morning and you think, “Wow, how nice it would be to just stay here in bed.” But, there is a consequence for that, and if you get up and go to work, there is a reward for that. So, every day we are thinking about reward or consequence, even if it is deep in the back of our mind.
The first thing we most think about when it comes to reward and consequence is self. I’m not saying that is intrinsically wrong, but because we are stewards of God, as Titus tells us, there is a different view and perspective we ought to have when it comes to reward and consequence.
Titus 2:5 tells us that the elder women are to teach the younger “to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” So, the reward and consequence is not about self, what people will think about me, it is about what people will think of God because of me.
Likewise, in verse 8 the young men are to be of “sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.” The context here is of believers as the stewards of God. When people look at my behavior, they should see the difference it makes, and this should reflect well on the Lord.
I Peter 4:15-16 says it this way, “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” So, if I am given a hard time at work because I am late, lazy, or dishonest, I am not being persecuted as a Christian. I am being persecuted because I am not being what a Christian should be. But, when I am taken to task for being what a believer ought to be, and that is happening more and more, I am not to be ashamed. I am to glorify God because of it.
Back in Titus 2:10 it says, “Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” The idea is to beautify the doctrine of God. So, your life is not about you. When you are a steward of your life and that which God has placed in it, it is not about you. It is really about what people think of the Lord Jesus.
Now this assumes that we are a distinct group that people will actually be able to see. That is, they can be blessed by us and that will reflect on God, but they have to know that we belong to God. This also assumes interaction. It assumes we have some interaction with people who are not believers so that we can show them the wonderful light of the glorious gospel and the Christ Who brought it. Lastly, it indicates significance. It indicates that what I do does matter, not just because of how it reflects on me, but because of how it reflects on the Lord.