The time will come, (and in many parts of the world that time has already come), when many of us will be called to give an account of what authority we serve. Both Peter and Jude in their letters warn us of the scoffers in the last days.
Peter and John were on their way to the temple at the time of prayer. That is an interesting statement to start this chapter. Even though Jesus had had much to criticise in the temple of His day, He never told the disciples to stop going there.
As I read Matthew 10, I do not see Jesus giving that instruction at all, He never said to pray for the sick! In fact in the version of the Bible which I read most regularly, He only told us to pray for people who persecute and who mistreat us.
Jesus left an enthusiastic group of believers on the earth. He saw in advance that this group would go to the ends of the earth. He knew that there would be many converts in many nations. But He also saw that before the end, many christians would leave the faith.
Should we too be telling those who call themselves believers? There are many who have left the world wide church for many reasons. There are those who have not joined a church for many other reasons. These people need to see the church doing what Jesus told us to do.
Jesus lived as a free man, often rejecting the authorities and customs of people among whom He lived. But in the hours of prayer before going to the cross, He chose to complete His work as a slave of God, and to go through with the plans of His Father.
In Luke 10:29 we read of someone asking Jesus for a definition of what is meant by a neighbour. The response of Jesus gives us the story of The Good Samaritan. This in turn ties in with the last phrase in our verse for today: serve one another in love.
All of us, as we grow older find that we have established habits that we do not think about any more. That is until something happens that does not fit into our routine. Then it is time to rethink a few things. Do they affect the practice of our faith?
Paul is the most renowned early follower of Jesus. Before we get to the end of this study we will look at more of what he wrote. For today let us stay with Titus. He received his own personal letter from Paul which made its way into the New Testament.
If we consider ourselves children of Father God, we must follow His instructions. We must be familiar with His word so that we will recognise if we are being led astray by leaders and teachers who may be well meaning, but do not fully understand the ways of The Lord.
EN 
FR