Thoughts and Reflection

Today we read the book of Titus. He is ministering in Crete. Some of the people in Crete became Christians they are not living converted lives. Paul gives us detailed instructions on how to live. Our lives should give witness to the gospel. If we are living no different than those around us, then we are displaying that the gospel makes no difference in our lives.

In Revelation, John describes what heaven is like. He mentions twenty-four elders with crowns, lightning, thunder, and other things. He further goes on to describe four living creatures, a lion, an ox, a man, and a flying eagle.

Daily Readings

Revelation 4

¹ Then, in my vision, I saw a door open in heaven and heard the same voice speaking to me, the voice like a trumpet, saying, ‘Come up here: I will show you what is to take place in the future.’

² With that, I fell into ecstasy and I saw a throne standing in heaven, and the One who was sitting on the throne,

³ and the One sitting there looked like a diamond and a ruby. There was a rainbow encircling the throne, and this looked like an emerald.

⁴ Round the throne in a circle were twenty-four thrones, and on them twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white robes with golden crowns on their heads.

⁵ Flashes of lightning were coming from the throne, and the sound of peals of thunder, and in front of the throne there were seven flaming lamps burning, the seven Spirits of God.

⁶ In front of the throne was a sea as transparent as crystal. In the middle of the throne and around it, were four living creatures all studded with eyes, in front and behind.

⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a bull, the third living creature had a human face, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

⁸ Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was studded with eyes all the way round as well as inside; and day and night they never stopped singing: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty; who was, and is and is to come.’

⁹ Every time the living creatures glorified and honoured and gave thanks to the One sitting on the throne, who lives for ever and ever,

¹⁰ the twenty-four elders prostrated themselves before him to worship the One who lives for ever and ever, and threw down their crowns in front of the throne, saying:

¹¹ You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you made the whole universe; by your will, when it did not exist, it was created.

Revelation 5

¹ I saw that in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne there was a scroll that was written on back and front and was sealed with seven seals.

² Then I saw a powerful angel who called with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’

³ But there was no one, in heaven or on the earth or under the earth, who was able to open the scroll and read it.

⁴ I wept bitterly because nobody could be found to open the scroll and read it,

⁵ but one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and so he willopen the scroll and its seven seals.’

⁶ Then I saw, in the middle of the throne with its four living creatures and the circle of the elders, a Lamb standing that seemed to have been sacrificed; it had seven horns, and it had seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits that God has sent out over the whole world.

⁷ The Lamb came forward to take the scroll from the right hand of the One sitting on the throne,

⁸ and when he took it, the four living creatures prostrated themselves before him and with them the twenty-four elders; each one of them was holding a harp and had a golden bowl full of incense which are the prayers of the saints.

⁹ They sang a new hymn: You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals, because you were sacrificed, and with your blood you bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation

¹⁰ and made them a line of kings and priests for God, to rule the world.

¹¹ In my vision, I heard the sound of an immense number of angels gathered round the throne and the living creatures and the elders; there were ten thousand times ten thousand of them and thousands upon thousands,

¹² loudly chanting: Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing.

¹³ Then I heard all the living things in creation — everything that lives in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, crying: To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb, be all praise, honour, glory and power, for ever and ever.

¹⁴ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen’; and the elders prostrated themselves to worship.

Revelation 6

¹ Then, in my vision, I saw the Lamb break one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures shout in a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’

² Immediately I saw a white horse appear, and its rider was holding a bow; he was given a victor’s crown and he went away, to go from victory to victory.

³ When he broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature shout, ‘Come!’

⁴ And out came another horse, bright red, and its rider was given this duty: to take away peace from the earth and set people killing each other. He was given a huge sword.

⁵ When he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature shout, ‘Come!’ Immediately I saw a black horse appear, and its rider was holding a pair of scales;

⁶ and I seemed to hear a voice shout from among the four living creatures and say, ‘A day’s wages for a quart of corn, and a day’s wages for three quarts of barley, but do not tamper with the oil or the wine.’

⁷ When he broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature shout, ‘Come!’

⁸ Immediately I saw another horse appear, deathly pale, and its rider was called Death, and Hades followed at its heels. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague and through wild beasts.

⁹ When he broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of all the people who had been killed on account of the Word of God, for witnessing to it.

¹⁰ They shouted in a loud voice, ‘Holy, true Master, how much longer will you wait before you pass sentence and take vengeance for our death on the inhabitants of the earth?’

¹¹ Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to be patient a little longer, until the roll was completed of their fellow-servants and brothers who were still to be killed as they had been.

¹² In my vision, when he broke the sixth seal, there was a violent earthquake and the sun went as black as coarse sackcloth; the moon turned red as blood all over,

¹³ and the stars of the sky fell onto the earth like figs dropping from a fig tree when a high wind shakes it;

¹⁴ the sky disappeared like a scroll rolling up and all the mountains and islands were shaken from their places.

¹⁵ Then all the kings of the earth, the governors and the commanders, the rich people and the men of influence, the whole population, slaves and citizens, hid in caverns and among the rocks of the mountains.

¹⁶ They said to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us away from the One who sits on the throne and from the retribution of the Lamb.

¹⁷ For the Great Day of his retribution has come, and who can face it?’

Revelation 7

¹ Next I saw four angels, standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the world to keep them from blowing over the land or the sea or any tree.

² Then I saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angelswhose duty was to devastate land and sea,

³ ‘Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’

⁴ And I heard how many had been sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel.

⁵ From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand had been sealed; from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand;

⁶ from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand;

⁷ from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand;

⁸ from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand; and from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand had been sealed.

⁹ After that I saw that there was a huge number, impossible for anyone to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands. They shouted in a loud voice,

¹⁰ ‘Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’

¹¹ And all the angels who were standing in a circle round the throne, surrounding the elders and the four living creatures, prostrated themselves before the throne, and touched the ground with their foreheads, worshipping God

¹² with these words: Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honour and power and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.

¹³ One of the elders then spoke and asked me, ‘Who are these people, dressed in white robes, and where have they come from?’

¹⁴ I answered him, ‘You can tell me, sir.’ Then he said, ‘These are the people who have been through the great trial; they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵ That is why they are standing in front of God’s throne and serving him day and night in his sanctuary; and the One who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.

¹⁶ They will never hunger or thirst again; sun and scorching wind will never plague them,

¹⁷ because the Lamb who is at the heart of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of living water; and God willwipe away all tears from their eyes.’

Titus 1

¹ From Paul, servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring those whom God has chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truththat leads to true religion,

² and to give them the hope of the eternal life that was promised so long ago by God. He does not lie

³ and so, in due time, he made known his message by a proclamation which was entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour.

⁴ To Titus, true child of mine in the faith that we share. Grace and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Saviour.

⁵ The reason I left you behind in Crete was for you to organise everything that still had to be done and appoint elders in every town, in the way that I told you,

⁶ that is, each of them must be a man of irreproachable character, husband of one wife, and his children must be believers and not liable to be charged with disorderly conduct or insubordination.

⁷ The presiding elder has to be irreproachable since he is God’s representative: never arrogant or hot-tempered, nor a heavy drinker or violent, nor avaricious;

⁸ but hospitable and a lover of goodness; sensible, upright, devout and self-controlled;

⁹ and he must have a firm grasp of the unchanging message of the tradition, so that he can be counted on both for giving encouragement in sound doctrine and for refuting those who argue against it.

¹⁰ And in fact there are many people who are insubordinate, who talk nonsense and try to make others believe it, particularly among those of the circumcision.

¹¹ They must be silenced: people of this kind upset whole families, by teaching things that they ought not to, and doing it for the sake of sordid gain.

¹² It was one of themselves, one of their own prophets, who said, ‘Cretans were never anything but liars, dangerous animals, all greed and laziness’;

¹³ and that is a true statement. So be severe in correcting them, and make them sound in the faith

¹⁴ so that they stop taking notice of Jewish myths and the orders of people who turn away from the truth.

¹⁵ To those who are pure themselves, everything is pure; but to those who have been corrupted and lack faith, nothing can be pure — the corruption is both in their minds and in their consciences.

¹⁶ They claim to know God but by their works they deny him; they are outrageously rebellious and quite untrustworthy for any goodwork.

Titus 2

¹ It is for you, then, to preach the behaviour which goes with healthy doctrine.

² Older men should be reserved, dignified, moderate, sound in faith and love and perseverance.

³ Similarly, older women should behave as befits religious people, with no scandal-mongering and no addiction to wine — they must be the teachers of right behaviour

⁴ and show younger women how they should love their husbands and love their children,

⁵ how they must be sensible and chaste, and how to work in their homes, and be gentle, and obey their husbands, so that the message of God is not disgraced.

⁶ Similarly, urge younger men to be moderate in everything that they do,

⁷ and you yourself set an example of good works, by sincerity and earnestness, when you are teaching, and by a message sound and irreproachable

⁸ so that any opponent will be at a loss, with no accusation to make against us.

⁹ Slaves must be obedient to their masters in everything, and do what is wanted without argument;

¹⁰ and there must be no pilfering — they must show complete honesty at all times, so that they are in every way a credit to the teaching of God our Saviour.

¹¹ You see, God’s grace has been revealed to save the whole human race;

¹² it has taught us that we should give up everything contrary to true religion and all our worldly passions; we must be self-restrained and live upright and religious lives in this present world,

¹³ waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ He offered himself for us in order to ransom us from all our faults and to purify a people to be his very own and eager to do good.

¹⁵ This is what you must say, encouraging or arguing with full authority; no one should despise you.

Titus 3

¹ It is for you, then, to preach the behaviour which goes with healthy doctrine.

² Older men should be reserved, dignified, moderate, sound in faith and love and perseverance.

³ Similarly, older women should behave as befits religious people, with no scandal-mongering and no addiction to wine — they must be the teachers of right behaviour

⁴ and show younger women how they should love their husbands and love their children,

⁵ how they must be sensible and chaste, and how to work in their homes, and be gentle, and obey their husbands, so that the message of God is not disgraced.

⁶ Similarly, urge younger men to be moderate in everything that they do,

⁷ and you yourself set an example of good works, by sincerity and earnestness, when you are teaching, and by a message sound and irreproachable

⁸ so that any opponent will be at a loss, with no accusation to make against us.

⁹ Slaves must be obedient to their masters in everything, and do what is wanted without argument;

¹⁰ and there must be no pilfering — they must show complete honesty at all times, so that they are in every way a credit to the teaching of God our Saviour.

¹¹ You see, God’s grace has been revealed to save the whole human race;

¹² it has taught us that we should give up everything contrary to true religion and all our worldly passions; we must be self-restrained and live upright and religious lives in this present world,

¹³ waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ He offered himself for us in order to ransom us from all our faults and to purify a people to be his very own and eager to do good.

¹⁵ This is what you must say, encouraging or arguing with full authority; no one should despise you.

Proverbs 31:10-15

¹⁰ The truly capable woman — who can find her? She is far beyond the price of pearls.

¹¹ Her husband’s heart has confidence in her, from her he will derive no little profit.

¹² Advantage and not hurt she brings him all the days of her life.

¹³ She selects wool and flax, she does her work with eager hands.

¹⁴ She is like those merchant vessels, bringing her food from far away.

¹⁵ She gets up while it is still dark giving her household their food, giving orders to her serving girls.