If realizing how short we have fallen moves our hearts to repentance, then we are headed in the right direction. Let that contrition burn within us and move us to heartfelt prayer and worship while trusting in the blood of Jesus to wash us clean. Possessing the cleansing we need, let us worship our Savior with gratitude.

Merely going through the motions is unacceptable in the Christian life. This truth is a key part of what Paul tells Titus when he says, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure (Titus 1:15).” This statement presents such a severe dichotomy that it should leave our cold hearts speechless because a ritualistic heart is an impure heart.

We are performative by nature. We like formulas and tend to think that if we do the right things, no matter how insincerely, all is well. For many of us, going to church has become a ritual. We stay in step with the liturgy, but our hearts are elsewhere as we “worship.” What Paul is saying here is that, even if we do all the right actions, if our hearts are far from God, it is all defiled.

In Crete, the church had a problem with false teachers teaching Jewish myths (Titus 1:14). These false teachers were from the circumcision party; they taught all kinds of rituals, saying, “Do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch.” They were Judaizers at heart, believing these rituals made someone right with God.

Because of cleanliness rituals, they were willing to destroy the work of God for the sake of food (Romans 14:20). This means that the kinds of food you ate or did not eat were more significant to them than Christ’s work on the cross.

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