Listen to today’s devo!

He must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message. (Titus 1:8–9)

Expanded Passage: Titus 1:5-9

Delayed reaction: Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation officially went into effect on January 1, 1863, but it could only be enforced as Union troops gained ground in Confederate states and announced the end of slavery. The enslaved people of Galveston, Texas, didn’t receive the good news of freedom until June 19, 1865—an event celebrated ever since then as Juneteenth or Emancipation Day. With liberty came newfound opportunity, responsibility, and opposition from old oppressors under new names (like the Klan and Jim Crow). Black leaders bore the burden of guiding their communities amid the promise and the peril of those days.

Likewise, Jesus officially canceled the devil’s dominion on Calvary (Col. 2:14–15; Heb. 2:14–15), but his liberating power comes into force in people’s lives as they receive the gospel. Paul wanted leaders in the new Christian communities to model responsible freedom from sin by living self-disciplined, others-oriented lives. He also tasked them with guarding the message of spiritual emancipation from opponents who’d attempt to lure believers back into old forms of bondage or invent fresh false doctrines to undermine their gospel liberty. The qualities Paul listed for early church leaders are the mirror image of his “mug shot’ of predatory false teachers (compare 1 Tim. 3:1–13 and Titus 1:5–9 with 2 Tim. 3:1–8). Today’s Christian leaders have the same call of duty.

Take in, talk up, live out, and watch over the gospel.

Jerome Van Kuiken is professor of Christian thought at Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OK) and author of The Creed We Need (Amazon) and The Judas We Never Knew (Seedbed).

© 2026 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.