by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
Paul wrote: “Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men<\/em>” (Titus 3:1-2).<\/p>\n To be a disciple of Jesus, we must live our lives according to His <\/b>teaching. Not all of His teaching is easy, mainly because it differs from what we<\/strong> had become before our conversion. We learned our lifestyle, and now He wants us to change – to be transformed, to be renewed in our thinking. This<\/strong> change in our thinking has to come first, and then it changes how we live.<\/p>\n In our American life today, it seems to me that there simply is more animosity, strife, hatred, factualism, etc. than in our recent past. Such modern lifestyle is opposed to how we are taught to live as disciples.<\/p>\n The word here in Greek is blasphemy – which is to slander, defame, or speak abusively\/injuriously about (or to) a person. Notice how broad the application is: to no one<\/strong>. Then we join social media and that is the predominant content of postings. Such is in the titles of YouTube videos, and it makes up the headlines of news articles. With all of this influence, it is easy for us to join in.<\/p>\n Again, our self-centered mindset seeks out only those who agree with us and ‘declare war’ on those who disagree. This leaves us\u00a0struggling with how to go ahead and disagree while <\/strong>remaining\u00a0peaceable. How do we contend for <\/b>the truth without becoming contentious?<\/p>\n This is variably translated ‘reasonable’, ‘forbearing’, or ‘yeilding’. At its foundation is the ability to give up ‘my rights’ for the greater good of someone else.<\/p>\n “Treat others as you would have them treat you<\/em>“- thus said Jesus.<\/p>\n Just these four instructions show the radical difference of how disciples ought to live and how people actually conduct themselves. It doesn’t have to be this way with you<\/strong>. You are different. You have been sanctified, that is, ‘set apart’ as a servant of God. You have not <\/b>learned Christ this way. This is between you and the Lord. Are you molding your life according to His instructions?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong Paul wrote: “Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men” (Titus 3:1-2). To be a disciple of Jesus, we must live our lives according to His teaching.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[642,1746],"class_list":["post-96662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-christianity","tag-disciple"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70404,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/disciple-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":96662,"position":0},"title":"Disciple People","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ross Ward, Jr. \"Therefore, as you go, disciple people in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you. And remember, I am with you each and every day until the end\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69482,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/mollycoddling\/","url_meta":{"origin":96662,"position":1},"title":"Mollycoddling","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer \"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master\" (Matthew 10:24). Here in Matthew, Jesus is telling his disciples that persecution will come. Followers of Jesus will be dragged into court, flogged, and even put to death by their own families. In this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/protected-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":62207,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/disciples-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":96662,"position":2},"title":"Disciples of Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Matthew 28:18-20 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No one name is used to describe a person. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A single word cannot encompass all that a person is. I could be called a preacher, but I\u2019m also a father, a husband, a writer, a teacher, a computer scientist, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58059,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/marks-of-maturity\/","url_meta":{"origin":96662,"position":3},"title":"Marks of Maturity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steven Harper Every serious disciple of Jesus Christ desires to attain spiritual maturity, of this there should be no argument. Many faithful disciples spend their entire life striving to reach an ever-higher level of maturity, and even babes in Christ have that fervor that drives them to not remain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/OlderCouple.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19346,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-jesus-had-brothers-and-sisters-why-did-he-give-the-responsibility-of-mary-to-his-disciple-john\/","url_meta":{"origin":96662,"position":4},"title":"If Jesus had brothers and sisters, why did he give the responsibility of Mary to his disciple John?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since Jesus had brothers and sisters (Mark 6:3), why would the disciple John be given apparent responsibility for Mary, the mother of Jesus in John 19:25-27?\u00a0 Wouldn't it seem better for Mary to be cared for by her own children?\u00a0 This would be particularly so because two of them,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83706,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lifestyle-evangelism\/","url_meta":{"origin":96662,"position":5},"title":"Lifestyle Evangelism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton A good way to live is by the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you. (Matthew 7:12) Would you want others to treat you as worthless? Don't treat others as worthless. Would you want to be ignored and never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Malign No One<\/h2>\n
Be Peaceable<\/h2>\n
Be Gentle<\/h2>\n
Showing All Consideration for All Men<\/h2>\n