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, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Titus 2:11-15
Paul’s letters to Titus are loaded with valuable instruction for us today. Exploring these few verses let us look closely at what he is declaring to Titus, and allow the Holy Spirit to declare it deep within our spirits. The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men. Let us realize no one is excluded — all mankind. After receiving this salvation, which is deliverance from sin and its consequences, we are to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age. This requires daily effort of equipping our minds and hearts in God’s Word more than the talking heads all around us. We must be very intentional and focused in our faith to be in this world and not be of it. We are ambassadors for Christ to everyone we meet each day. That is a sobering reality we need to meditate on.
As we examine closely the remaining verses we find our love for God and our blessed hope, when we focus on His first appearing when our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed we could possibly commit! The blood of Jesus makes it possible for us to become His own possession, zealous for good deeds. May we ask ourselves, what possesses us, truly? Can we say we are truly possessed by God and His Word? If we are, we are zealous to be obedient to His will over our own, and we perform His good works. Because He has redeemed us from our flesh and the evil one, we are free to love Him with all our hearts and love one another. The love we have for God is what purifies us continually to be His own possession.
We are then exhorted to speak the Words of God, and to reprove with all authority. When you are full of His Word rather than your own, you have the same authority that was recognized in Jesus when He spoke. Matthew 7:28 -29 states:
When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
The truth should always be spoken with boldness and authority motivated by love as Jesus did. One of the verses I cling to most is John 16:13:
"But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come."
Our hope is not only fixed on the redemption of Jesus first appearing, but we now hope expectantly for His second appearing! As we regard the verses in Titus we prepare for our future when we will be fully possessed eternally by our great God and Lord Jesus Christ! May we seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit of Truth who will disclose what is to come to each one of us. Then let us not speak on our own initiative, but only what we hear from our Lord through the Word and the Holy Spirit. If we obey these scriptures we will be able to reprove and exhort one another with sustaining Words of life. God forbid we fall away when we are so close to our finish line!
In His love
Teresa Roberts
Masterpiece Fitness
276-237-6680
I think we can safely say everyone was thrilled to get to the finish line of the 2nd Annual Froggy Mountain 10K. Very challenging course, but great fun!
