WONDERFUL THING IN THIS PASSAGE – I love discovering some of the deeper things of God, but I like it even better when my Lord looks down at this simple kid holding His hand and says, “For right now, here are a couple of things to avoid and three things to do.”
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13).
Two Things to Deny (Reject)
Godlessness: Living as if there were no God. – We look around us and see things, people, events, threats, opportunities, temptations, etc. But we don’t see God. He’s not obvious, so we build our daily lives around things that are – that’s where we focus our thought, time, and energy. Godlessness doesn’t necessarily mean we do evil things; it just signifies that we do most things for reasons other than reverence for and devotion to God.
Worldly lusts: Longing for what is forbidden in this world. – Again, we look around us, and it sometimes seems that the things God has warned us to avoid attract us the most. Eve had every tree of the garden bursting with delicious fruit for the taking, but she just couldn’t keep her eyes off the single tree marked off-limits.
Three Ways to Live
Sensibly: Literally, with a sound mind – When we rise above the whirlwind of circumstances surrounding us and temptations seducing us – when we back away and look at our lives from an objective vantage point, we see that God is above all and that “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col. 1:13). We can live in that light even “in this present age.”
Righteously: With certainty that God’s moral directives are perfect – We should live as if everything God says is true and everything He wants is right. We were saved when we gave our hearts to “Jesus Christ the righteous One” (1 John 2:1). We can trust Him to infuse our daily lives with His righteousness. We correctly yearn and strive for that infusion.
Godly: In ways that remind an observer of God – When we say a person is “kingly,” we mean that he is like a king in appearance, manner, or nature. God calls us to live lives indicating that there is a good God and that He transforms His followers into His likeness.
WONDERFUL THING IN OUR LIVES – Living this way is a challenge. Here’s what makes it fun: We’re doing it “while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Jesus spoke about that as well:
“You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them” (Luke 12:36-37).
That’s worth waiting for! And worth living like He wants us to while we wait!
