Back To The Basics
A good sports coach will regularly drill their team to master the basics in their particular sport, because it is so easy to let the basics drift away through presumption and lack of application. We think we know them and so there is no need to keep doing the same old drills but like everything else in this temporal world, things fade. The truth is that we can become lazy in our walk with Christ. We deceive ourselves to think that “we’ve got this,” and we set the auto pilot. Christianity is not about just purchasing a ticket to heaven. Christianity is all about being Christ like. A follower of Christ can only reflect the image of their creator if they will allow the presence of God in them to be seen. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col.1:27 Glory is the visible effects of His presence. Christ is made known through the natural senses if we will surrender our human effort and yield to his transforming power which in turn reflects who and what he is in our life.
Titus 3:4-7 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.
The Apostle Paul writes Titus, his son in the faith, this letter of instruction to place things in order in the church at Crete. A large part of the instructions given to this young leader was to remind him of what a sound godly life looks like. It is that emphasis that Titus is instructed to teach both leaders and followers in the local church.
In the middle of Paul’s teaching to Titus, he inserts maybe the most powerful foundational teaching, which is so possibly and easily forgotten by those following Christ. This spiritual father to Titus begins his epistles with and interjects in the middle of his writings and at the end these important words: grace, mercy, peace, and love. I often ask myself why are these words so important? Maybe because you and I have slipped into trying to live out this Christian walk by doing the right good things and not depending on God’s spirit to empower and lead us. By nature, we can fall into the trap of “doing” rather than “being.” The doing is identified as our human effort to accomplish spiritual things. Being is the result of allowing spiritual truths to naturally manifest. John 15 puts it this way. Abiding in him (Jesus). We cannot produce fruit through the efforts of our flesh because they are spiritual fruits not carnal or fleshly fruits.
I am reminding us today of the truths written in Titus 3. It is the kindness and love of God that saves us because we cannot deliver ourselves. No amount of humanly good deeds is enough to earn God’s love expressed through kindness and mercy. Salvation is all about him and not about us. Mercy is God assuming our need because we cannot do it without him. We are made righteous (right standing) because of the sacrificial blood of the spotless Lamb of God. The Holy Spirit washes away our sin and renews our spirit because we cannot accomplish this in our best efforts. God alone transforms the sin broken heart. God alone provides a rebirth; we cannot!
We are justified (just as if I had never done it) by his grace. Grace is God’s undeserved favor. Grace is the supernatural influence on the heart and its reflection seen in the life. Grace enables, Grace renews, Grace provides what we do not have. Grace showers God’s favor on your life. Our efforts are seen and valued by God. We are his created instruments to display who he is.
God alone justifies us through Jesus Christ. It is because of his grace that we become heirs and hold the hope of eternal life. God’s mercies are very tender towards you. Mercy can be extended dutifully but that is not how God’s mercy is extended. He is compassionate and full of tender mercy towards broken people, of which we all are. His kindness and gentleness are present to hold you when you have lost hope, to encourage you when you have lost courage, to strengthen you when your strength has drifted away in your efforts to do the right things.
God knows you and what you are made of. The Holy Spirit, who resides in you is God, all powerful and he can and will accomplish his purposes as it relates to us.
What do you say? How about taking a deep breath and surrender to God’s goodness. Stop striving, stop being baptized in the waters of constant regret and remorse for not making mistakes and sinning. I had a friend who used to say… welcome to the human race. We are not perfect; we are blemished and deeply scarred, but that does not limit God’s tender mercies, kindness, and his grace to enable you to live in his peace and experience authentic joy.
Yes, I know we are instructed by the scriptures to live responsible and accountable, to walk in all holiness and purity. Yes, we need to display good deeds, but those deeds glorify God the most when they spring from our “being” Christian as opposed to our doing Christianity. Most importantly we need to allow God to be God in and through every fiber of our being and to trust him that he will complete the good work he has begun in us. Phil.1:6 He will do it, because he promised!
Let’s keep practicing the basics, shall we?
Titus 3:4-7 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.
The Apostle Paul writes Titus, his son in the faith, this letter of instruction to place things in order in the church at Crete. A large part of the instructions given to this young leader was to remind him of what a sound godly life looks like. It is that emphasis that Titus is instructed to teach both leaders and followers in the local church.
In the middle of Paul’s teaching to Titus, he inserts maybe the most powerful foundational teaching, which is so possibly and easily forgotten by those following Christ. This spiritual father to Titus begins his epistles with and interjects in the middle of his writings and at the end these important words: grace, mercy, peace, and love. I often ask myself why are these words so important? Maybe because you and I have slipped into trying to live out this Christian walk by doing the right good things and not depending on God’s spirit to empower and lead us. By nature, we can fall into the trap of “doing” rather than “being.” The doing is identified as our human effort to accomplish spiritual things. Being is the result of allowing spiritual truths to naturally manifest. John 15 puts it this way. Abiding in him (Jesus). We cannot produce fruit through the efforts of our flesh because they are spiritual fruits not carnal or fleshly fruits.
I am reminding us today of the truths written in Titus 3. It is the kindness and love of God that saves us because we cannot deliver ourselves. No amount of humanly good deeds is enough to earn God’s love expressed through kindness and mercy. Salvation is all about him and not about us. Mercy is God assuming our need because we cannot do it without him. We are made righteous (right standing) because of the sacrificial blood of the spotless Lamb of God. The Holy Spirit washes away our sin and renews our spirit because we cannot accomplish this in our best efforts. God alone transforms the sin broken heart. God alone provides a rebirth; we cannot!
We are justified (just as if I had never done it) by his grace. Grace is God’s undeserved favor. Grace is the supernatural influence on the heart and its reflection seen in the life. Grace enables, Grace renews, Grace provides what we do not have. Grace showers God’s favor on your life. Our efforts are seen and valued by God. We are his created instruments to display who he is.
God alone justifies us through Jesus Christ. It is because of his grace that we become heirs and hold the hope of eternal life. God’s mercies are very tender towards you. Mercy can be extended dutifully but that is not how God’s mercy is extended. He is compassionate and full of tender mercy towards broken people, of which we all are. His kindness and gentleness are present to hold you when you have lost hope, to encourage you when you have lost courage, to strengthen you when your strength has drifted away in your efforts to do the right things.
God knows you and what you are made of. The Holy Spirit, who resides in you is God, all powerful and he can and will accomplish his purposes as it relates to us.
What do you say? How about taking a deep breath and surrender to God’s goodness. Stop striving, stop being baptized in the waters of constant regret and remorse for not making mistakes and sinning. I had a friend who used to say… welcome to the human race. We are not perfect; we are blemished and deeply scarred, but that does not limit God’s tender mercies, kindness, and his grace to enable you to live in his peace and experience authentic joy.
Yes, I know we are instructed by the scriptures to live responsible and accountable, to walk in all holiness and purity. Yes, we need to display good deeds, but those deeds glorify God the most when they spring from our “being” Christian as opposed to our doing Christianity. Most importantly we need to allow God to be God in and through every fiber of our being and to trust him that he will complete the good work he has begun in us. Phil.1:6 He will do it, because he promised!
Let’s keep practicing the basics, shall we?
Recent
Archive
2024
No Comments