Read: Titus 1:1-4
Let’s begin this week’s mediation with a riddle borrowed from J.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats mountain down.
The answer is also related to what is at the heart of the introduction of Paul’s letter to Titus.
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;
Paul is writing to Titus for the primary purpose of increasing Titus’s faith in the hope of eternal life. Why? Because time (which is the answer to the riddle) is the most valuable resource in existence! No amount of money can purchase more of it. It devours everything from mountains to kings. It’s the one thing that no one can outrun.
So what would you say, if I called you up and said I had found a broker offering an unlimited supply of the most valuable resource in the world? Would you be intrigued? Do you think your friends and family would want in on this deal? I can already hear your first question, “How much does it cost?” Herein lies the most confounding, shocking, and world-altering truth of all: it has already been purchased for you! Jesus, the Word of God incarnate, paid for you to have access to this eternal life.
As you ready yourself for worship this Sunday, take some time to pray Titus 1:1-4 back to the Lord giving thanks to Him for the Truths it contains.
