What's in a Title?

At the same time, I’ve met some men who have that “holier than thou” attitude. Some have it because of their titles, others have it based on how long they’ve been Catholic, and some base it on which religious groups they are affiliated with. These are the types of men that I’d like to discuss in this article.

 

The New Evangelization starts with us Catholics guiding and helping each other with our faith journeys and educating each other about our wonderful faith. There are so many resources available to us to learn more about the Catholic Church, yet some of our brothers don’t utilize them,or don’t know where to find them. If you were on a deserted island with a few other people and you knew of a food source, would you share it with everyone, or would you only give them bits and pieces? Would you be that leader who would show them where it was and how it would benefit the group, or would you let pride and envy take over, and keep most of it for yourself, and let them starve to death slowly?

 

Why would you want to withhold the knowledge that you have about your faith from your brother? Why would you not want to share the Gospel with him and feed him the word of God? Is it fear of them learning more than you eventually? If this sounds like you, then you are no better than the Pharisees.

 

2 Timothy 3:16 – “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” If your brother gets to a point where he does know more than you, “Praise Jesus” out loud for the gift that was given to him by the Holy Spirit instead of cursing him in silence.

 

Titles. Far too often people have the misconception that if a person has a title, then they are a very important person. I’ve met many men with many titles. Some men are strong leaders in their field and command respect by their actions yet some depend on their “title” and demand respect because of it. Some have titles that sound very impressive as a matter of fact, but that does not make them “the” expert in their field or a leader. So, what is the difference between the aforementioned men? What we are talking about here of course is pride. Pride…the mother of all sin. How it loves to rear its ugly head and give men that fake sense of security and that false hope.

 

Proverbs 26:12 – Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. The book of Proverbs is full of verses in regard to pride, but how often does a prideful man read his Bible? Scratch that, how often do men read their Bibles?

With titles come great responsibility. More often than not, titles are earned, not given out. Sometimes the title becomes more important to the person than it should be. Once again, pride at work with our egos. If this sounds like you, drop,the pride and ignore that voice in your head telling you that you are a “somebody”, that you are more than most. That is the devil talking and he’s leading you down a treacherous path. One man is no better than another. We were all made in the image and likeness of God and we are all sons of God.