December 18 – Day 19
Titus 3:3-7
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Titus was a Greek disciple who traveled with the Apostle Paul during his 1st Missionary Journey to Corinth, Galatia, and later Crete, in the capacity of either being a church planter in places Paul did not travel to, or as a traveling elder bolstering the churches Paul started after Paul left to continue his missions work elsewhere.
The Book of Titus is a Pauline Epistle, or a letter that Paul wrote, in this case to Titus. It is considered one of Paul’s ‘Pastoral’ writings, similar in style and purpose to 1 and 2 Timothy. This consideration is due to the writings being focused on the leadership skills, abilities, and knowledge a pastor, elder, or teacher must have to be a good shepherd in leading their congregations’ growth to have their Faith and Hope in Jesus and their understanding of the Gospel of Christ.
Paul is instructing Titus (and us) that we are all sinners, that before we became Christians, we were unsaved as many around us, and were not Christian or Christ-like in behavior. There will be those who will show their disdain for those in Christ; from ridicule to outright violence and persecution of those of the Way.
It is in our human, secular nature to deceive, be greedy and lustful for our own enrichment and pleasure, and unfortunately succeed in our pursuit of these sinful activities. We show sinful displeasure and hatred toward those, or those things that are different from us, or are competing against our wishes. Even Christians can be sinful when we demonstrate displeasure or hatred over those who are not Christian in their beliefs or actions.
It is because of our sinful nature why God sent His only Son, as stated in John 3:16; to provide us a means for Him to provide Salvation over sin, to achieve Righteousness and be the Christian example through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We are to be transformed through Saving Grace to be the beacon of light in an ever-darkening world. It is for us to represent Jesus and be the clarion call for those who don’t know Jesus to seek Him through us.
We are transformed by God’s Salvation. For the Christian, this transformation came when Jesus entered into our lives through accepting Him and His Gospel message. In accepting the Lordship of Christ, we turn away from what the secular self was doing. In our rebirth, we find He saves us from ourselves, our sinful selves, with His Mercy, Grace and Love.
We do not deserve His Salvation, and there is nothing we can do to earn it on our own. Only through accepting His sacrifice – the Ultimate Sacrifice by shedding His blood on the cross of Golgotha, 33 years after His immaculate birth, are we able to receive His forgiveness and gift of Everlasting Life with Him.
It is our desire serving Him, in performing our work per the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) to use His provisions he freely gave us to show those yet to accept Him and believe, that they can have this Blessed Assurance, also.
