Teaching Always

DEVOTION
TITUS
TEACHING ALWAYS
Titus 2:15
15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.
NIV
I will teach those things, when the time is presented and the Spirit has directed or appointed the right time, but still I think it should be something which may well be taught all the time in the course of regular conversation. It may not always need the formal setting of a classroom to teach, but simply the gathering of believers for any occasion. I think all too often I hear nothing but meaningless chatter about either sports, weather, the children, or grandchildren, or even about some aches and pains rather than useful discussion about the Word of God. It seems that gossip, even cloaked in the form of prayer request, takes precedence over meaningful conversation regarding the truths of God. It is almost as if some believers dare not venture into the truth for fear of learning something about their own self. These are the moments of truth for me. Do I dare take the initiative and just change the course of conversation toward the word, or do I just sit and listen. I think I must dare. Why do they think I am so strange because I am not a sports fan, or watch any of those reality shows? Why is there such a push away from talking about politics, the environment or even religion? These are the times I must dare to teach, and to encourage them in the word. Take the leap and be different, obeying the calling on my life. Be bold and take on the difficult situations, but in an encouraging way and not a confrontation manner. Yet how do I rebuke without being confrontational? If I do that with authority I think they might get the opinion I think I am better than them or that I am a know-it-all. Yet it is with authority that I must take the lead in times of gatherings either formal or not, and teach, encourage, and rebuke when the Spirit speaks to my heart. How can I not talk about God, about Jesus, and what he has done for me, and what he has done in me, and what he is doing through me? How can I not encourage them to think about what God has done for them, and in them and is doing through them? I would be remiss in not engaging them in those thoughts, rather than sit and listen to those meaningless words of things in this world. Why is some much time taken up talking about the perishable when there is so much to talk about the imperishable? The call is clear and I must do what I must do and let the despise fall where it may. I must be teaching always.