November 11, 2022 INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIVING
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 this present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; 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.”
We need not live without purpose or without direction, or without hope. This passage gives us a clear tract to run on; it simplifies our mission in life once we embrace the truths presented. The grace of God has appeared; had it not, all would be lost, without hope. Not only did God bring salvation, He also gave instructions as how we are to live life on this earth; His instructions for living lead to abundant life-to life as He designed. His instructions are simple, yet powerful. As a starter, we can choose to deny ungodliness-it’s that simple. We are faced with what is ungodly almost continually. We live in an ‘ungodly’ world where being ungodly is the norm; immorality, greed, anger, dishonesty, addictions, unfaithfulness, gossip, and the such, are rampart in our culture. We live in a fallen world, but God has redeemed us and we are no longer ‘of’ the world. We are also to deny worldly desires; worldly desires has to do with pursuing the things of the world and being focused on the temporal instead of pursuing the things of God. On the positive side, we are to live sensibly, righteously and godly; do what is right, what is pure, what is honorable, what blesses others, make wise decisions, doing what is pleasing to God, have compassion, and learn the secret of being content in all circumstances. Let us set our hope, not on the things of this world, but on the return of Christ and all that He has in store for those who love Him. And here is the grand and glorious news: He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed! Did you hear that? We can live holy lives, and not participate in anything that is ungodly. If that is not good enough, He has purified us-now we are to walk in purity, being pure because we have been purified. God has redeemed us and purified us through Christ for Himself for His own possession! Because of the amazing things that God has done on our behalf and because we are His possession, we are to be zealous for good deeds. Just as God is good, and just as Jesus went about doing good-so should we. Our motive for doing good deeds should not be to gain His approval or to earn His love; our good deeds are to be expressions of the good God who lives is us. Sin broke man’s fellowship with God, BUT now we have been forgiven and restored to our Father and we can now live according to His wonderful, fulfilling design.
Romans 12:1-2 “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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