Category Archives: Titus

Tony Funderburk Posted on by

All things are pure. To the pure, at least, they are. And my schoolboy days are a good example of what I’m talking about. I’m sure I’m not the only one who was this way. But mine is the only story I know about. So it’s the one I can talk about.

I didn’t go around thinking all things are pure to the pure.

I was just naïve. And I didn’t know what I didn’t know, when I got into public school (a.k.a.: government indoctrination camps) For example, I was unaware so many kids walked around with a potty mouth. But it became blatantly obvious by the time I was in junior high.

And I didn’t realize, up until about the age of 12, how much kids talked about sexual things. It wasn’t like I didn’t know that stuff existed. I just didn’t know everybody was gonna be talking about it. And that included boys talking to girls and girls talking to boys. It wasn’t just conversation among the guys.

These days the situation is WAY worse. I I bet if you even said “all things are pure to the pure” in just about any typical American social environment, eyes would roll, and listeners would just about unanimously tell you how silly you are to say such a thing.

But guess what? It’s a Biblical thing to say.

In fact, the apostle Paul (you might recall him as the apostle to the Gentiles) wrote a letter to a man named Titus, and said that very thing. “To the pure all things are pure…” 

But he didn’t stop there. He also described the opposite of pure people:

“…but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” And to defile something, according to the dictionary, means to sully, mar, or spoil it. Yeah, just plain make it dirty.

I wish I didn’t have to happen to anybody. But especially not young kids. Because when you consider how pure they are when they’re born, and how adorable they are because of it, it’s a cryin’ shame that ever has to end.

Sure, I realize it’s an exercise in futility to wish for purity in this world. And that’s probably why, all those years ago, I wrote about my yearning for…

The Pure Place

I clamor for the clean life, and I never quite succeed.
I’m hunting for the high ground that’s higher than the sky.
And I’m looking for the love-life…the kind that we all need.
I’m wishing for the wonder that lives in my mind’s eye.

I want to find the Pure Place…that glitters like gold.
I need to find the Pure Place…never hot or cold.
I’d love to find the Pure Place…
Let the Light shine on my face…
No dreams I’d ever have to chase…
No bad that we could not erase…
I’d love to find…the Pure Place!

I’m searching for the sanctity that I never do quite find.
I’m longing for the living days that never, ever end.
And I’m thinking so theatrically, but at least I use my mind
To quest for the quintessence of my Forever Friend

repeat chorus…inst…repeat chorus and end   © 1998 Get Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional, my ongoing Devotional for believers who want to focus on the power of God’s love and rightly divide the word of truth. Enjoy the convenience of having these flashes of light delivered, for free, right to your inbox. Then, you can spend your valuable time reading and listening instead of searching. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to books and music, right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

Daily Devotional

Stay tuned,
Tony Funderburk signature logo

Tony Funderburk Posted on by

“To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” Paul wrote those words to Titus. And I get what he meant/means by that. Especially when I remember my young, naïve self.

Yeah, I remember a time when I thought all things are pure.

And that’s despite the fact that I could recall, clearly, the loud, angry, bordering on violent arguments. My young parents had before they divorced. I was about four years old when all that took place. But to this day, I remember thinking, even as a young boy, how wrong those arguments were.

Once they separated, and soon divorced each other, my younger brother and I were sent to my grandparents house (my dad’s parents) and we lived there for a year or two. And that’s where, due to the Christian influence of my grandmother, I started taking all things are pure again.

But guess what shattered and destroy that illusion for me. Never mind. Don’t try guessing. Because I’ll just come right out and tell you. My pure illusion (or delusion if you prefer) quickly disappeared once I entered into our great and glorious government school system.

I know the government school system, also known as government indoctrination camps, is much worse than it was back when I was a young kid. But it was already terrible even back then.

Government should have no business running schools.

Gigantic bureaucratic committee systems always, always, always go into anti-God mode. Whether they start that way or eventually end up that way. In America is living proof how true that is.

When I first started, school, elementary schools were still fairly safe for little kids. And particularly in the south where I started, Oklahoma and Texas, there was still a little bit of Christian influence. But once I advanced into junior high, where kids came from a wider variety of neighborhoods, I started to hear “dirty” jokes, and crude remarks from the boys about the girls.

Up to that point I had been raised to know that a potty mouth kid would get his mouth washed out with soap. And I knew I wanted no part of that. Even as a little kid I didn’t see the point of talking like that.

But, as the world would have it, my little light didn’t shine brightly enough to keep all things pure around me. So, the jokes and crude remarks increased as I went from junior high to high school.

And, we’re all adults here. So, I’m sure I don’t have to ‘splain it to you how eventually the pure illusion transformed into the profane and debased world we live in now. But what’s even more troubling than that is how the world I thought was pure, when I was a kid, was already profane and debased. And it gets even worse than that. Because the world was that way as far back as you can go in time.

Maybe you could say the very first generation was OK.

But even that generation, made up of only two people, messed up bad. And they found out, real fast, how God wants purity. And they found out the consequences of not doing what He says. We’ve all been finding out ever since then. No generation has figured out how to learn from the mistakes.

And that’s why Paul told Titus that those ” to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure.”

And when nothing is pure, as a friend of mine used to say, there’s no bottom to that abyss.

So, that’s why so much of what I write contains flights of fancy and impossible, imaginary scenes and colors and light. Because I want to create at least some tiny droplets where all things are still pure andpoint to the source of hope and purity. Then I like to pour those little droplets into the dried up ground of the world that needs Jesus.

Reading The Raindrops

Little notes fall on the flowers in the garden
From a cloud that’s floating just above the trees.
I can hear the whole sky play
A little song for me today.
Reading the raindrops I can sing along with ease.

And the tympani is thunder pounding rhythm.
The conductor holds the lightning in his hand.
It’s a symphony, a song,
And it plays the whole day long.
Reading the raindrops I’m the singer in the band.

All the instruments are needed for the music.
It’s so beautiful that frozen hearts are thawed.
When I give up self-control,
It flows deep into my soul.
Reading the raindrops, little love notes, straight from God.  © 2013

Get my Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional, my ongoing Devotional that’s Logical AND Emotional. Because then the flashes of light I share on my website go right to your inbox. So you can spend your valuable time reading and listening instead of searching. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to books and music, right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies.

Daily Devotional

Stay tuned,

Tony Funderburk signature logo

Tony Funderburk Posted on by

There’s old-fashioned. And there’s new-fashioned. And sometimes they might be the exact same thing but they don’t sound alike at all. For example, the expression “holding fast” to something. I bet you don’t many, if any who say that. No, it’s a lot more likely you’ll hear “hangin’ on” to something.

And how in the world can holding fast be the same as hangin’ on?

Well, let’s not get distracted by HOW it happened. Or you’re liable to start wondering how “going to” ended up as “gone to.” Or how abbreviated words transformed into possessive words. Etc. Etc.

Just know that holding fast and hangin’ on mean the same thing. At least in the case of what I’m sharing with you today.

This is still part of Paul’s description of the qualifications to follow for appointing bishops and elders in your church. He left Titus in Crete to “set in order the things that are lacking.” And apparently Paul’s prescribed qualifications were commands. Not requests. Because he actually told Titus to “appoint elders in every city as I commanded you…”

Paul laid it all out clearly. And the way he said it makes it sound like it’s not a popularity contest. And it’s certainly not about power and affluent influence. Check it out. I believe you’ll find it very eye-opening.

And as you read it, you’ll find the answer to this rhyming quest.

It’s a very short letter. So, it won’t take you much time to get through it. And somewhere in the letter is the answer you’ll need to fill in the final word that finishes the rhyme below. Think you can do it? Remember, don’t overthink it. The answer might be in plain sight.

If and when you think you know, don’t just keep holding fast to it. Be sure to leave a comment, or send an email with your answer.

Here’s the rhyme:

A bishop must be blameless and
Self-willed, not quick-tempered.
Not violent, he’s able to
Hold fast the faithful __________

There’ll be other challenges. So, there’ll be other chances to get your name in one of my upcoming books of Rhymes and Reasons. If you wanna get a jump on the competition and know when the next one is, jump on the The TRUTH.

That way they’ll come to you, and you won’t have to go lookin’ for ’em.

(I’ll give you a hint: the next one is tomorrow)

Stay tuned,

Tony Funderburk signature logo

Tony Funderburk Posted on by

I’m not here to give you a history lesson on ancient Greece and Italy. But I AM gonna share a little bit about Nicopolis, Greece, a city near the shore of the Ionian Sea which leads to the Mediterranean Sea.

Nicopolis, Greece was named after Little Caesar’s Pizza.

Oops, that’s a willful typo. Yes, those exist here in my Rhyme and Reason Realm.

Actually, it was Caesar who founded and named Nicopolis Greece. According to a Roman historian named Suetonius (I gotta tell ya, I don’t like that sound of that name, it’s, shall we say, precarious).

Anyway…

According to Suetonius, Caesar was victorious in a battle near the city of Actium in Italy. And three years later, he returned “memorialize his momentous victory. And to “perpetuate his memory, he founded a city called Nicopolis near Actium, and provided for the celebration of games there every five years; enlarged the ancient temple of [his patron god] Apollo…”

OK, now there’s a cool connection to Caesar’s city of victory. And that connection is Paul. Yeah, THAT Paul. The guy who wrote 13 epistles (aka: letters) on the power of God’s loving grace.

Here’s the cool part.

According to an article I read, about 90-something years after Caesar was there, Paul spent some time in Nicopolis to strategize how to spread the victorious message of Grace.

Part of that strategy was to summon Titus to come join him in Nicopolis.

And get this.

Titus shared his name with Caesar’s famous general at the Battle of Actium.

Now, maybe you don’t get a kick out of those kinds of connections. But I sure do. Because they’re tiny glimpses into the unfathomable depths and heights of God’s brilliance. And those glimpses inspire me to keep writing and sharing the power of His love. The love that gives this life Rhyme and Reason.

And speaking of ongoing contests, here’s another quest into the letter Paul wrote to Titus.

All you gotta do, is read Paul’s letter to Titus.

It’s a very short letter. So, it won’t take you much time to get through it. And somewhere in the letter is the answer you’ll need to fill in the final word that finishes the rhyme below. Think you can do it? Remember, don’t overthink it. The answer might be in plain sight.

If and when you think you know, be sure to leave a comment, or send an email with your answer.

Here’s the rhyme:

And, Titus, you must come see me.
Nicopolis is where
You’ll find I have decided to
Live out the winter ________

There’ll be other challenges. So, there’ll be other chances to get your name in one of my upcoming books of Rhymes and Reasons. If you wanna get a jump on the competition and know when the next one is, jump on the The TRUTH.

That way they’ll come to you, and you won’t have to go lookin’ for ’em.

(I’ll give you a hint: the next one is tomorrow)

Stay tuned,

Tony Funderburk signature logo

Tony Funderburk Posted on by

In some circles it’s a sort of miter-shaped chess piece that can move diagonally across any number of unoccupied spaces. And you might know this (I didn’t), but it can also be mulled port spiced with oranges, sugar, and cloves. And one well-known circle it’s the title for a high-ranking Christian cleric. You win this round if you hit the buzzer and said, “What is a bishop?”

(Side note: I remember how, when I first learned to play chess, as a kid, I thought it was cool how the bishop could move diagonally across the entire chessboard. That, and a smartphone will get you a text.)

Anyway…

So, let’s look at that Christian cleric definition for a second or two.

In the Christian world, what is a bishop supposed to do?

And is it a job anyone in a church can get? Well, there’s at least a couple of places where the Apostle Paul shared a fairly comprehensive list of requirements a potential bishop should meet. One of those places is in his letter to Titus. But I’m not gonna tell you where you can find his list.

Because this is another challenge. And if you rise to meet the challenge, you’ll have a chance to add your name to one of my upcoming books. Here are the simple “rules.”

All you gotta do, is read Paul’s letter to Titus. It’s a very short letter. So, it won’t take you much time to get through it. And somewhere in the letter is the answer you’ll need to fill in the final word that finishes the rhyme below. Think you can do it? Remember, it helps answer the question, “What is a bishop?”

If so, be sure to leave a comment, or send an email with your answer.

Here’s the rhyme:

It’s not about your selfish will.
Bad temper is not fine.
And neither are the side effects
That come with too much __________

There’ll be other challenges. So, there’ll be other chances to get your name in one of my upcoming books of Rhymes and Reasons. If you wanna get a jump on the competition and know when the next one is, jump on the The TRUTH.

That way they’ll come to you, and you won’t have to go lookin’ for ’em.

Stay tuned,

Tony Funderburk signature logo

Tony Funderburk Posted on by

Play

Get The Rhyme and Reason PodcastDelivered to Your Device Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Pandora | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS | More

I bet your name is NOT Titus. Because that’s not one of the more common names these days. At least not in English speaking countries. But, according to some information I found, Titus was once “one of the most common first names in the old world.”

(HEY KIDS: be sure to read through this whole post. Because, if you do, you can win a chance to get your name in one of my books of Rhymes and Reasons.)

I think it’s fair to say uncommon names can certainly make a mark.

And there’s a lot of info that says the name, Titus, means something like “title of honor.” Even if you don’t speak Greek or Latin or some other old language, it seems pretty easy to make that connection. Some other connections people have made with the name Titus include:

  • Honor
  • Strength, and
  • Leadership.

And some say that people who are named Titus are “thought to be confident, assertive individuals who possess great charisma and the ability to inspire and lead others. They are often seen as natural leaders, with a strong sense of responsibility and a deep sense of duty to those they love.”

Maybe those are some of the qualities the Apostle Paul saw in his follower, Titus. And Paul wrote Titus a letter which became one of the “books of the Bible.” The letter/book is pretty short. But Paul wrote it to offer Titus some encouragement and wisdom.

And Paul told Titus how to complete his assigned job of establishing elders for the churches under his care. Paul described how these leaders should be. Plus, he wanted Titus to know how all believers should relate to each other. And know how to be and act with nonbelievers, too.

All with a base in Grace.

So, here’s your challenge. And your chance to get some fame for your name. Even if it’s one of the uncommon names.

All you gotta do, is read Paul’s letter to Titus. It’s a very short letter. So, it won’t take you much time to get through it. And somewhere in the letter is the answer you’ll need to fill in the final word that finishes the rhyme below. Think you can do it? If so, be sure to leave a comment with your answer.

Here’s the rhyme:

Obey the ones who are in charge,
And speak no evil when
You’re under their authority.
Be humble with all ____________

There’ll be other challenges. So, there’ll be other chances to get your name in one of my upcoming books of Rhymes and Reasons. If you wanna get a jump on the competition and know when the next one is, jump on the The TRUTH.

That way they’ll come to you, and you won’t have to go lookin’ for ’em.

Stay tuned,

Tony Funderburk signature logo

Tony Funderburk Posted on by

Where do you stand when it comes to living your best life? For me, it’s an easy answer. Because I made a choice, when I was 13, that converted my life into a series of perfect days, weeks, months, and years. That’s how it is when you become a (shh, I’ll have to whisper this next word) Christian.

Hey, you can make fun of me for choosing to be a Christian, if that’s your thang. But don’t knock the mistake-free life until you’ve at least tried it. Because most people in the world love us Christians. And I certainly can’t complain about the fringe benefits either. Like health, wealth, and tons of influence in the global arena.

It’s been awesome.

Don’t listen to anyone who’d dare tell you they knew me when. Especially if they tell you I haven’t always enjoyed a mistake-free life. Because they’re just envious. And it ain’t pretty. Poor souls. Hope they learn.

Anyway…

Where do you stand with your life choices?

I hope you’re at least considering living your best life now. Because I’m sure you’re the kind of person who deserves it. Am I right? So, don’t put it off. Get started today. So, you can experience the 24/7 joy-filled life where crime and sin are just words less enlightened people use.

OK, before I get past the point of no return, of course I just shared a satirical view of my life as a Christian. And it probably comes as no surprise that my life hasn’t been mistake-free and totally joy-filled.

Nope. As a matter of fact, in my many years as a professional musician I didn’t always lead the righteous life. I never did drugs, not even marijuana. And I’m grateful to God for that. But I did things I shouldn’t have done. Yep, I was THAT musician who made bad decisions.

Fortunately for me, I had chosen Jesus as my savior when I was young. Because He never let go of me even when I was stupid. And thankfully that’s true to this day.

Yeah, a choice to put your faith in Jesus doesn’t immediately transform you into a sinless, perfect person. Sorry to say, but it’s true, sometimes things get more difficult. And here’s another shocker. Sometimes even the ones who love Jesus…sin. Of course, by “sometimes” I mean a lot of times.

Humans are so broken and selfish. So much so many don’t even realize how broken and selfish they are. That’s where being a Christian helps. At least we have a guidebook and a standard we can depend on.

And we have HOPE.

I can’t even imagine how difficult this world is for people who don’t have the hope of eternal life. So…

Where do you walk stand sit?
There’s a righteous way to see it.
It can save your soul and free it.
Where do you walk stand sit?

You can be like a tree.
Rivers of water flowing free,
Nurturing fruit for all to see.
You can be like a tree.

Just know that it’s your choice.
You can choose life and rejoice,
Or a place you’ll have no voice.
Just know that it’s your choice.

© 2015

Get all my really refreshing Rhymes and Reasons the easy way. Just jump on the The TRUTH. And I’ll send them directly to your inbox. Do it now, and you’re only a couple of clicks or taps away from some complimentary songs and other goodies: https://www.TonyFunderburk.com

Stay tuned,

Tony Funderburk signature logo