Titus 1:5
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
Yesterday we reflected on verses 1-4 where Paul did his usual salutation of greeting people before explaining the reason for writing the letter. In our devotion we ended with asking the question, “why Paul wrote this letter to Titus?” In today´s verse (5) Paul explains the reason for writing the letter. This verse saves as a pivot for the historical background of the letter. In today´s verse, we learn that Paul and Titus had ministered together evangelizing the people of the island of Crete. Paul later left the Island while leaving Titus behind. This seems to have been the apostle´s strategy of leaving a senior member behind after establishing a new church probably to put structures and systems in place. In the verse we establish that Titus remained in Crete for two reasons. First, there was unfinished business when Paul left. Therefore it was Titus´duty to finish this unfinished bussiness. As a companion of Paul, he knew what needs to be done in terms of stabilizing and giving direction to a new church. We dont exactly know the nature of this unfinished business. Second, Titus was to “appoint elders in every town…” This is obviously another unfinished business. The church needs leadership that will give it direction and Titus had the huge task of appointing leadership. This means that the church at this stage had no power in voting for the leadership, it was the prerogative of the apostles. This demonstrates how trusted was Titus before Paul. Such a task cannot be delegated to an untrusted cadre. This confirms what Paul had said earlier on in terms of his relationship with Titus-my true son. Though Titus was delegated such a huge task, was not given some guidelines for doing the appointment. Probably we will get our answers in the next verses.
Takeaways for today.
- In leadership, it is important to trust team members
- A good leader delegates roles to other members of the team.
- The success of an established organization depends on good leadership.
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