I was reflecting recently on the opening verses of the book of Titus, and had an interesting observation (at least to me) about how Paul structured his introduction. Paul started his letter, as he does with every letter, identifying himself in relation to Christ. In this case, Paul identifies himself as "a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ." Of course, because these are letters to individuals or churches, it is customary to identify yourself in a letter.
I believe there is another reason behind his self-identification, and it is seen in Titus. I believe Paul lived with an awareness and identification of who he was in Christ all the time. Paul is the anti-thesis to today's self-esteem culture. He did not go around thinking about his self-esteem or what others thought about him. His identity was tied up in who he was in Christ.
In Titus, he offers his identification then launches into a purpose statement of why he has sent the letter (at least in part) to Titus: for the faith, knowledge, and hope of the churches in Crete. He does this before addressing Titus. It seems that Paul is implying that purpose only comes about after properly identifying yourself in light of who are in Christ. I think Isaiah 6 demonstrates the same truth. Only after Isaiah sees God, sees his own sinfulness, and is forgiven of his sin, is Isaiah then able to respond to God's call to go and serve.
The point I'm trying to make is that we often find ourselves approaching issues from the wrong "angle." We want to spend all of our time pursuing what to do, and ignore the relationship with God. I would argue that Scripture calls on us to spend our time pursuing the relationship with God, and the purpose and actions we are to do will follow.
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