Walk into any hospital waiting room and you’ll notice that administrators have tried to address a challenging problem: how to assist people who are waiting under duress. Someone in a waiting room may be preparing to receive bad news. To distract them, magazines are laid out, calming music is played, and televisions are tuned to programs that entertain. It is never easy to wait.

When Paul wrote to Titus, he understood that Christians were waiting. Jesus had ascended to heaven and promised to return, but it would not happen right away. Some Christians had already died without seeing Christ return. It was slowly becoming clear that this might take a while. Christians would have to wait.

Paul doesn’t attempt to distract Christians in God’s waiting room, rather he reminds them that they have been transformed by the grace of God (v. 11). That transformation continues as they “say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions” (v. 12). Living the way Christ commanded is one of the central ways Christians-who-wait sustain their hope in Christ’s return (v. 13). Paul reminds them that Jesus Christ gave Himself to redeem us from wickedness. He died to purify us, so that we could be His own people, ready to do good (v. 14). He gives additional guidance for waiting behavior in chapter 3: “to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone” (vv. 1–2).

Distraction may work in a hospital waiting room, but it is not fitting for Christians who wait for Christ to return. We are called to live lives that sustain our hope and enable us to do good, while we look forward to the glorious return of Christ.