Honest
Now another quality that Paul stresses here for people of God is for them to be honest. In Titus 1:7, he spoke about not being quick-tempered and not being violent, and then he said that leaders of the Church—and all Christians—should not pursue dishonest gain.
Or, as the Easy-to-Read Version of the Bible paraphrases it, “He must not be a man who will do almost anything for money.”
Warning Against Greed
This is actually quite a strong theme in the Bible. All throughout the Old Testament and New Testament, there is this principle that:
a) we must not be dishonest, and
b) we must not be overly obsessed with gain.
And those two always seem to overlap. People who are obsessed with getting more have no problem being dishonest in order to do that.
But when the Gospel touches our souls—when Jesus Himself has touched us, changed us, filled us with His Spirit—oh, how different it is! Suddenly gain is not such a big thing in our lives.
Yes, it's healthy to have a kind of ambition in your life—to want to grow, of course. But if your purpose is to get more and more and more, then chances are you'll find it easy to be dishonest in order to do that.
The Power of Transformation
In fact, the story is told of a man in the 1800s who came home one day to find a lady sitting in his house, well dressed but very flustered. She said that as she was walking the streets, a mad dog came bounding after her, so she just ran for the closest door and managed to get inside, and here she was catching her breath. The man gave her a cup of water, and they chatted for a bit. She thanked him and off she went.
That evening, his wife noticed that her gold watch was missing. After much searching and trying to figure it out, they realized that it was this lady who had stolen the watch.
Fifteen years later, a small parcel arrived at their door. As they opened it up, they were shocked to see the lost watch and a note from that same lady who said that meeting God had changed her heart—and so she wanted to return the watch with her apologies.
God as Treasure
You see, life without God is all about gain. It's all about “What can I get—even if I have to be dishonest?” But once God is your greatest treasure, then you don't need to live for more gain.
So this little phrase from Paul about us not pursuing dishonest gain—it's so easy to skip over as you read this letter. But think about it today and consider your actions. Are you honest—very honest—in everything you do? Are you cutting corners here and there? You know, in South Africa, there's so much corruption—especially in our government—that it's very easy for us to say, “Well, if they're going to do it, I'm going to do it.” But really that is not the Christian way, because our greatest gain and our greatest treasure as people of God is God Himself.
In Acts 20, Paul was saying goodbye to the Ephesian leaders. One of the things he said to them is, “While I've been here, I haven't coveted anybody's money or apparel.”
So I pray, friends, that you and I will always be people who don't covet people's money or fancy clothing or possessions, and who never have to resort to dishonest things to get more—because our God is the greatest treasure we'll ever have.
