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Day 4: Experiencing Freedom from Bondage

In this passage, Paul specifically pinpoints the issue of alcohol abuse—a warning that was needed by Christian women in his day and is no less needed in ours. However, I believe the heart of this text goes beyond dealing with a single behavioral issue. It seeks to plumb and expose the hidden depths of our hearts, the chains that keep us from being free to portray and proclaim the gospel.

At one level, being “slaves to much wine” represents a mindset of overindulgence that leads invariably to bondage. It is the natural, human bent that is perpetually in pursuit of whatever brings us pleasure or eases our pain. It’s the “eat, drink, and be merry” mentality. The tendency to pursue a life of ease and comfort, pampering the flesh and—whenever the flesh experiences physical or emotional discomfort—doing whatever is necessary to make that discomfort go away. Now. At any price.

Being “slaves to much wine” (or “slaves to much” of anything else other than Jesus) is the opposite of being sober-minded—temperate, self-controlled—a virtue Paul upholds repeatedly in this short epistle (1:8; 2:2, 5, 6, 12).

So in considering what the Spirit is saying to us through this phrase, we might begin by asking whether there are any areas where we are given to indulgence and excess. Are we driven to have too much of anything?

Whether it’s so-called innocent pleasures or the more destructive habits of drug use, pornography, gambling, and alcohol addiction, they all begin with a choice. Then the body’s mechanisms and our sinful desires kick in, and before we know it we’re hooked.

Part of the beauty—and the power—of a Titus 2 lifestyle is that we’re not in this battle alone. We tend to think of our compulsions and addictions as a personal issue—something that’s mainly about our individual health, growth, and desire for change. But the directives we’re exploring—such as not being “slaves to much wine”—are not just about us as individuals, but also about how we live out the beauty of the gospel—together.

God has given us each other, remember. We do this in community with others, and we do it for the sake of others. What a joy—and responsibility—it is to fight together for grace and freedom in Christ and to take others with us into a place of victory where together we can worship in full surrender at the feet of Christ. This Titus 2 mandate is about sharing and receiving from one another the gifts of transparency, accountability, mercy, and encouragement, reminding one another who our Master really is.