Unfinished Business

Titus 1:5
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Have you ever wondered why you are still in a certain place? Other people have moved on but you are still here. There may be another place you desire to be but you are still in this place.

I’ve always had a sense of urgency in my life and I never wanted to be left behind. It would bother me as a child whenever I missed the school bus. Even now I have a reoccurring dream that I’m in college and there is a final exam I’m supposed to take but for whatever reason I forget to study and the dream ends with me not wanting to be left behind.

The reality is that some of us have been left behind but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Paul purposely left one of his protégés behind. Titus must have had some anxious feelings about being left behind because Paul opens this letter by saying, “the reason I left you behind in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished.”

Before you can move on to your next assignment you’ve got to finish the one where you are. Titus had to appoint elders in every town Paul had been. He had to finish what was unfinished; we have to do the same:

You can’t be a success without a successor. Where you are now you need to be pouring into someone else who can do what you do when God calls you to the next place. Jesus told his disciples to go make disciples. Every believer has the responsibility of making disciples before we can advance to the next level.
You have to teach what you want to see. Jesus told the disciples to teach them whatsoever you have seen and heard from me. There is the assumption here that we are disciples of Jesus ourselves. That may be the unfinished business that requires us to stay behind. After we receive it ourselves we then have to teach it.
You have to inspect what you expect. There were expectations for the elders that Titus would be putting in place. You can’t just assign people with inspecting what you expect. Are they living up to what you expect out of them?

You can’t leave until your people are in place. You never want to leave a place with your work undone. You always want to leave a place with solid infrastructure and solid people in place to carry on the vision.

Instead of feeling sorry for yourself for still being where you are, ask God what is it you want me to finish? Study to show yourself approved, so you can pass this final exam.

Dear God,

Help me to finish what I started. Give me discernment on how to select the right people and to make disciples by teaching them everything you taught me. Help me to stay ahead of the curve by finishing what is unfinished.

In Jesus Name,
Amen