Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste. Titus 3:13
RECOMMENDED READING: TITUS 3:9-15 “9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.12 When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.13 Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.14 And let our’s also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.15 All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.”
COMMENTS: Having lived 67-1/2 years, I am considered old by our granddaughter and young by those a few years older than I, but I do realize I have already lived more years on earth than I have left. My body testifies to that truth. But as I reflect, I also realize just how brief a lifetime is. My parents and grandparents said this often when I was young. I often wondered about that thinking life tends to pass so slowly. A 24-hour day has not changed since my youth but it sure seems like time is passing much quicker now than then. Do you notice this as your experience too? Well, stop and think, time seems to pass slowly when anticipating something you are looking forward to and much more quickly when anticipating an experience or event you are dreading.
But scripture confirms for us life is a short length of time and needs to be spent wisely. I am pondering why today’s scripture tells us to avoid spending time pondering or arguing about unimportant subjects that really don’t mean anything from an eternal perspective.
I am wondering why genealogy is listed among those “unimportant subjects”? Afterall, didn’t Matthew and Luke give Christ’s genealogy in scripture? Wasn’t it important enough to include in scripture? My mother’s maiden name was Hovis. We would attend large family reunions annually when I was young and my mother’s (Hovis) reunion was the largest and best organized. Some spend a great deal of time tracing the Hovis genealogy and tying us into that genealogy. As a young, I confess I found that work to be a bit boring but pictures of ancestors and hear their stories was a bit more interesting even for a youth and recall some of those stories but wish I had paid a bit more attention now.
Stories of faithfulness to God and God’s guiding hand on their lives. Stories of rebellion and redemption. Stories of impact on elders on their children and residual impact on today. I would notice how stern and sober people looked in those old pictures and imagined how mean and stern they were and how dreary and plain things looked in those pictures. I even wondered, as a child, when was color invented. I thought the world was only “black and white” in those days since pictures weren’t in color. I laugh now especially when see how faded and dingy pictures from my youth now look. Finally, I was told why pictures were black and white and why people didn’t smile in pictures then. They wanted to appear proper and respectful. Well, once in awhile someone would smile in those pictures, reflected more the character I was told in some of those old stories.
So why would Titus include genealogy in unimportant topics of debate? Shouldn’t the legacy left to us be important? Afterall, isn’t the legacy left to us in scripture important and worthy of study and meditation and even debate or discussion? YES! YES! YES!
So, what is different? Paul was expressing urgency in the sharing the Gospel Message over short-term issues. Paul was saying that life is brief and precious, so we need to concentrate on things of eternal value first and not waste time on less important issues. He is also implying Christ sets the priority and gives purpose and logic to life and to history past and history yet to come.
As I reflect on history from scripture and history from my family, I realize and notice Christ’s eternal influence and transformation all through the centuries. I also notice the positive ripple affect of that impact even in bible times and how that impact rippled through the centuries to impact my ancestors and their ripple to impact me and me to impact my children and grandchildren and on it goes. So, from that perspective genealogy is a worthy subject. Likewise, the ripple effect of foolish choices of those before us causing suffering and poor choices to continue. Learning from past experiences is a valuable teacher which is rarely appreciated when we are young but more commonly as we age and recall our own experiences. By then much time is likely wasted and we too discover those younger than we are still not willing to learn from our experience.
So, if we look at genealogy from an eternal perspective, it is important. But if we look at genealogy and other life limited topics, including history, only from a perspective of curiosity or only to enjoy without gaining more valuable insight, we miss and waste the time and work. Many who worked so hard on my mother’s Hove’s genealogy only were interested in finding out and completing family trees and getting as much information as possible and didn’t focus on those life stories long forgotten but powerful witness of Christ’s faithfulness.
The stories of faith George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and most presidents of 100+ years ago. The stories of faith from others from and including Christopher Columbus. The stories of the Pilgrims and countless immigrants who came to America seeking religious freedom and with a passion to evangelize. The stories of Pocahontas and Squanto and impact of Christians on the Indians. Our modern history books have omitted those stories and life stories that reveal the truth of God’s divine Hand forming the people and land that would become the United States.
When we omit God from what we do and why we do it, we render what we do as worthless.!
When we include God in what we do and why we do it, we render what we do as priceless!
Let realize that face and act accordingly. AMEN? AMEN!
“I feel in such a haste to go out and obey this commandment this morning by compelling those to come in who are now tarrying in the highways and hedges that I cannot wait for an introduction, but must at once set about my business.”
Charles Spurgeon, in opening his sermon, “Compel Them to Come In”
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 306 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
donsdevotions 