Dean Smith is one of my favorite basketball coaches. He coached the University of North Carolina’s men’s basketball team and won two National Championships. He coached Michael Jordan, James Worthy, and so many more NBA Champions.
Aside from winning and developing players, he was known for his values and his unwavering commitment to his players' personal growth and social responsibility.
He instilled in them values of teamwork, discipline, and a strong moral compass, emphasizing that success extended far beyond the basketball court.
Values are the beliefs that guide what we do, think, and say. When you have strong values, you can show up and be consistent no matter what is going on around you.
One of the keys to being successful is having the right values and living according to those values.
Titus was a young leader in the Bible who was a close companion and disciple of the Apostle Paul. He traveled with Paul on missionary journeys and was trusted with major leadership roles in the early church.
The book of Titus in the New Testament is a letter from Paul to Titus, providing guidance and instructions for his ministry on the island of Crete where Paul sent him to establish and organize churches, address false teachers, and appoint qualified leaders who lived the values of Jesus.
Some of the key verses in Titus came in chapter 2, verses 11-14:
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, righteous, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
The three values we are called to live here are self-control, righteousness, and godliness.
Self-control is your ability to manage your thoughts, emotions, and actions.
Righteousness is doing things the right way and for the right reasons.
Godly means living your life according to the principles and teachings of your faith.
When we do these things, we will be blessed and bless others. The more we read the Bible and converse with God, the better we can understand self-control, righteousness, and godliness.
Something(s) to Think About
1 - What is your biggest takeaway from this devotional?
2 - When do you have the most self-control? When do you have the least amount of self-control?
3 - When do you feel the most righteous, and when do you feel the least righteous?
4 - When do you feel like you are closest to God and living a Godly life, and when do you feel furthest from God?
My Prayer
Our Father. Thank you for waking me up and giving me the ability to make good choices that lead to good days. Please help me have more self-control over my thoughts and actions, and please help me make righteous, Godly choices. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.
For a printable PDF of this devotional click here: Titus: Living a Good Life
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