Has God called you to live as a rock in a hard place? Let me explain what I mean by that.

In the first century, Titus was drafted by the apostle Paul to live in a hard place called Crete. The people on this island were known throughout the Mediterranean world as lazy workers and dishonest merchants. They had a long history of despicable living, and possessed the morals of an alley cat.

A Cretan poet, Epimenides, who lived in the sixth century before Christ, wrote, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” (Titus 1:12). In Greek literature, “to cretanize” meant “to lie.” Morally and spiritually, Crete was a hard place in which to live.

Yet Paul established a church there and asked Titus to organize it and appoint leaders. Titus had to be a rock in a hard place. By his teaching he was to expose error and proclaim truth; by his way of life he was to be an example of what it means to live for Christ (2:7-8).

Has God called you to represent Him in a workplace where Christ’s name is a curse word, or in a neighborhood where people have no time for God? Then by all means you must know God’s truth and reflect that truth in your life. A society such as ours needs Christians who live as rocks in a hard place.

  — Haddon W. Robinson