Monday
Titus 3.4-5a “But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us…”
That word ‘saved’ is too easily overlooked, or understated, or dulled by overuse. This is a miracle word and it means when everything was at stake, when we were lost beyond our own help, God intervened. The kindness and love of God appeared in the gift and revelation of God’s Son, Jesus. This old apostle is in the process of establishing his legacy in the form of a faith community in which the risen Son of God, Jesus Christ, is present by his Spirit – to save, and keep, and guide. Grateful worship has always been the living evidence that we are saved, and we know it.
Tuesday
Titus 3.5 “He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy…”
We are saved not by our best efforts, but by the kindness, love, and mercy of God. These three keywords of Christian vocabulary are required to express something of the sheer gift and undeserved grace, of what God has done for sinners through the work of Christ. Once saved, of course, God requires us to live by that same grace into holiness and righteousness. Being saved by God’s mercy and justified by grace, is “a status which must then be demonstrated in practice in righteous living.”
Wednesday
Titus 3.5 “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
Deep echoes here of that late night conversation with Nicodemus about being born again by the Holy Spirit. There can be no more radical new beginning than being born again. Our moral life, our inner drives of love and desire and hope, so often distorted by sin into possessiveness, greed and self-serving, are all of them reset in a renewal only possible by the cleansing and enabling power of the Holy Spirit. No wonder Paul said, “If anyone is in Christ – new creation!” And all by the kindness, love and mercy of God. We really should take more time to sit down and wonder at all of that!
Thursday
Titus 3.6 “The Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour.”
The language is still about the extravagant grace and generosity of God. The Holy Spirit is given without measure, a reminder of John’s vivid memory: “From the fullness of his grace we have all received, one blessing after another.” (John 1.16) God gives of himself in his fullness in Christ and by the Holy Spirit. Not only so, it is all mediated through Jesus Christ our Saviour. There is no more convincing sign of the saved soul than grateful love, lived out in faithful service to church and world, and continually celebrated in lifelong praise to the Saviour.
Friday
Titus 3.7 “So that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
Being justified by grace means we are not heirs by right, but by gift. In Romans Paul spells this out much more fully: “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…” The hope of eternal life is not set round with conditions, or ‘ifs and buts’. This hope is secured in our relationship to God, through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s what being saved means, to live faithfully and hopefully towards our future in eternal fellowship with God.
Saturday
Titus 3.8 “This is a trustworthy saying.”
In the Letters to Timothy and Titus, Paul repeatedly tells those who will hear his letters read, “This is a trustworthy saying.” Believe it; stake your life on it; act on the truth of it; accept it into your heart and mind and let its truth and trustworthiness be fuel for your faith, day in and day out. Read Titus 3.1-7 again, because the truth Paul is telling is well worthy of your deepest trust and strongest confidence in God. For your interest here are the other ‘faithful sayings’: (1 Timothy 1.15; 3.1; 4.8; 2 Timothy 2.11-12; Titus 3.8). Find time to ponder these trustworthy sayings too.
Sunday
Titus 3.8-9 “This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”
It’s not a bad motto: “Be careful to devote yourselves to doing what is good.” Careful means not being careless about those opportunities that always come our way to make someone else’s life better. Being devoted and loving God, makes us morally predictable about our choices of behaviour, about the words we speak, and how we think. Because God in his kindness, love and mercy has saved us through Jesus Christ, and cleansed and renewed us by the Holy Spirit poured out all over our lives in blessing and enabling grace – because of all that, we take great care to live gratefully, generously, and hopefully, as befits those who are saved and belong to the Saviour. Quite a thing to live a life profitable to everyone! Good deeds change the world!
Recent Comments