March 15, 2021 GRACE HAS APPEARED
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
Recently, I learned that the word ‘appeared’ as used in this verse, is an epiphany, which is defined as “Is the moment when a character is suddenly struck with a life-changing realization which changes the rest of the story.” It is indeed a big deal that at a particular time, the grace of God appeared. God had a profound reason and purpose for choosing to let His grace appear to all men. Before the grace of God appeared, man was lost, bound by sin, and without hope. But when His grace appeared, man could come to know full forgiveness for his sins and he could know Christ as his Savior. We should always thank God for saving us; however, the grace of God appearing, meant much more than a ticket to heaven; knowing and receiving His grace has a great impact on this present life. Because of His grace, we can now deny ungodliness and worldly desires-and that is an awesome truth. We innately know what is ungodly; we know it is wrong to lie, steal, to think wrong thoughts, to be unfaithful, to be unkind, to take revenge, to be self-centered, to be involved in sexual sins…and the list goes on. We also know what worldly desires refers to-wanting more and more things, to be materialistically minded, desiring to impress others with how we look, what we accomplish, and what we have acquired. To be ungodly and to be consumed with worldly desires actually robs us of the abundant life that God has for us. To repeat, because of the grace of God, the really good news is that we can say no to ungodliness and worldly desires. Not only can we deny these things, we can now “live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age.” What a blessing to be able to live this way-and we can. We can make decisions that are right and sensible; we can be about doing righteous deeds; we can live godly lives in this present age! Let us not believe the lie that says we cannot live this way. Jesus came to “redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Wow! Redeem us from every lawless deed---purify us for Himself….make us His possession….zealous for good deeds? YES-that is what He wants and that is what He made possible by His grace. Let us say good bye to living compromised lives, to living in mediocrity, to being discouraged, and instead, embrace and be transformed by the grace of God that enables us to live according to His plans and purposes. Thank God for the transforming power of His grace.
2 Timothy 1:9 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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