“An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.” – Titus 1:6
In an article entitled “We Cannot Be Faultless (But May Still Be Blameless)”, Pastor Tim Challies gives the following fictional analogy: “Let’s suppose a day came when my father, a landscaper, was hired by one of our neighbors to design and install a garden. He dutifully sat before his drafting table to create the design, he visited the nursery to purchase the plants, he stood in the garden and began to create the shape of the different beds. But then a serious illness overcame him and he was forced to remain indoors for days or weeks.
And though at the time I was merely a child, I was a son who loved his father, so took it upon myself to surprise him by completing the project on his behalf. I studied the plans as carefully as I could, I carved the shape of the different beds, I put down a layer of topsoil, I planted the ferns and hostas, the roses and euonymus, doing my absolute best to lay them exactly where the plans dictated. When my father recovered sufficiently to venture out-of-doors, I led him to that garden and happily presented the work I had done for him.
His reaction was both joy and concern. He felt great joy that I had attempted to serve and please him, that I had done my best with the little knowledge and minimal skill I possessed. But he felt concern that the job was done more poorly than he would have done it. He noticed that the flower beds were not quite the right shape, that the edges were ragged, that many of the plants and flowers were a little out of place. He knew that he still had work to do in order to make it right.
As I stood before my dad and proudly displayed the work I had done for him, I would have been blameless, even though the work was not faultless. The work was, in fact, the farthest thing from faultless, for it was clumsy, messy, amateurish, and in no way up to the standards my father could have maintained on his own. So, judged by his standard, it was a failure. But though the work was not faultless, I was still blameless, for I had done the absolute best I could with the little knowledge and little skill I possessed. My motives were good, my desires were good, and my work was as good as I could make it.
How would a father respond in such a situation? He would commend his son for his love, for his generosity, for his desire to honor his father. He would not castigate his son for his lack of knowledge or lack of skill, but rather honor his desire to please his father to the degree that he was able.”
No matter what life throws our way, we should seek to be blameless in all that we do. Today in prayer, thank the Lord that when we follow Him, we can be blameless.
“When we quarrel, how we wish we had been blameless.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
God’s Word: “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.” – Genesis 17:1
By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail
DEVOTIONS IN TITUS, JUDE, PHILEMON †