file:  /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940815.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                                 Monday, August 15, 1994
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READ:  Titus 1:5-16

                      "ROCKS IN A HARD PLACE"

                "Rebuke them sharply, that they may
                      be sound in the faith"

                             Titus 1:13

Has God called you to live as a rock in a hard place?
Let me explain what I mean by that.

In the first century, Titus was drafted by the apostle
Paul to live in a hard place called Crete.  The people
on this island were known throughout the Mediterranean
world as lazy workers and dishonest merchants.  They
had a long history of despicable living, and possessed
the morals of an alley cat.

A cretan poet, Epimenides, who lived in the sixth
century before Christ, wrote, "Cretans are always liars,
evil beasts, lazy gluttons" (Titus 1:12).  In Greek
literature, "to cretanize" meant "to lie."  Morally and
spiritually, Crete was a hard place in which to live.

Yet Paul established a church there and asked Titus to
organize it and appoint leaders.  Titus had to be a rock
in a hard place.  By his teaching he was to expose error
and proclaim truth; by his way of life he was to be an
example of what it means to live for Christ (2:7-8).

Has God called you to represent Him in a workplace where
Christ's name is a curse word, or in a neighborhood where
people have no time for God?  Then by all means you must
know God's truth and reflect that truth in your life.  A
society such as ours needs Christians who live as rocks
in a hard place.

                                                 - HWR

 Lord, grant that I may shed Your light
        Where wickedness is rife,
    And may it help some sinful soul
        To find in You new life.

                                 - DJD

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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A rock-solid believer thrives even in a sin-hardened
place.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  Jeremiah 33-36

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Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of
Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49555, USA.
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