When Paul wrote to Titus in Crete, the Cretans were living a lifestyle of greed, laziness and evil. ‘One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This saying is true’ (Titus 1:12-13 NIV). Paul instructed Titus to remind people how they were supposed to be living. ‘Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God’s people should be bighearted and courteous’ (Titus 3:1-2 MSG). There are some similarities between first century Crete and the world today. Sometimes it can feel like there’s so much evil in the world and that people are determined to live their way, not God’s way. The words Titus was asked to speak to the Cretans, can also apply to us today. We’re called to ‘speak evil of no one…avoid quarrelling…be gentle.’ This can be really hard to do, especially when we’re feeling hurt or frustrated. In the heat of the moment, we can end up saying things we don’t actually mean, to someone or about someone. Or maybe we jump to the wrong conclusion and find our relationships become full of misunderstandings. We’ll get the most positive response from others when we speak with gentleness. ‘A gentle answer will calm a person’s anger, but an unkind answer will cause more anger’ (Proverbs 15:1 NCV). It can be challenging to keep our words gentle, especially when we’re feeling angry, but gentleness is one of the fruits of the Spirit (take a look at Galatians 5) and is something we need to practice.
