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As we begin this study of Paul's letter to Titus, we should think through why we are studying the Bible. Why not read some other book? Or why not just get together with some other women and chat? Well, have you heard the story about the kindergarten teacher who had her class paint pictures of anything they chose? After observing a little girl who was working very intently on her painting, the teacher asked, "What are you painting?" The girl answered, "It's a picture of God." Amused, the teacher informed her, "No one knows what God looks like." Without looking up from her painting, the little girl responded, "They will in a minute!" This might be a cute example of a precocious child, but many people paint pictures of God in their own minds. They "know" that God is a certain way, because they want him to be that way. However, the one true God is transcendent. He is beyond our capacity to know. First Timothy 6:16 describes God, "[W]ho alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see." God existed before time. He is the Creator, and we are his creatures. Sinful man cannot approach the holy God.How can we know this God if we cannot approach him? He has to approach us. The only way to truly know God is for him to reveal himself to us. He reveals his existence and power in creation. (See Psalm 19 and Romans 1:18""21.) However, if we want to truly know God in a personal way, it must be through his Word. And God wants us, his creatures, to know him. Jeremiah 10:23""24 says:Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth."
About the author
Keri Folmar is the wife of John Folmar, pastor of the United Christian Church of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and the mother of three children. In a previous life, as chief counsel of House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, she was staff writer of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban.
