Titus 2:11

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

     Sin is a terrible thing. It is an offense against God. You might even say that it is a slap in the face to our Creator. Some of our sins seem even worse than others. We look at the sin in our lives and we wonder how that could have been us doing that. We often times cannot believe the depth of our sin. When we finally come face to face with what all we have done, it can and should be a terribly frightening experience.

     Many times in these moments, our desire is to run away from God. We look at our sin and we cannot believe that He would possibly have it within Him to forgive us. Yet what Paul tells Titus here should give us great hope. God’s grace extends to all men. There is no one from which God has witheld His mercy. It is there for all man, not matter what terrible deed they have done.

     The examples of Paul and David should give us hope in this regard. One commited adultery, and then murdered in order to cover it up. The latter brought his full might against God’s people and persecuted the church. And yet these two men are upheld as the standard for Christians. Not only were they forgiven, they went on to do great things for the kingdom of God. We too can have full confidence then that if we would just humbly seek the Lord, He will use us to glorify His kingdom as well.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

Jeremiah 31:33

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

     Growing up, I remember that one of my prized possessions was a toy sword that was a replica from a television show. I loved that thing. I would play with it all the time. When my friends would come over and we would play our war games, everyone wanted to use my sword. However, I really did not want to share. It probably took a mandate by my parents to get me to allow other people to use it. It was mine and I wanted to keep it that way.

    The possessive nature that we have toward our precious belongings is a wonderful illustration for our relationship with God. God declared that those who would come under His new covenant, those who would obey Him, they would be His people. The Lord is possessive of those who are His. This should be of great comfort. God is not going to sale us at a garage sale or casually give us to a friend. Instead He will cling to us ferociously, claiming that we are His and He will not share.

     Considering how badly Satan desires our souls, having a God who will offer us such protection is very comforting. Satan is always trying to worm us away from God. Yet we have a God who will not let Him. He will hold to us tightly. And since He is the Creator of all, there is nothing that Satan or anyone else can do that can cause us to be taken from Him. Truly the only way for us to no longer be His is if we leave. Praise the Lord that He desires us so.

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Isaiah 55:11

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding {in the matter} for which I sent it.

      God’s word has many purposes. Speaking through Isaiah here, the Lord tells us that whatever He sends the word to do, the the word will accomplish that. In 2 Timothy 3:17 we see that one such purpose is to equip the man of God for every good work. This is exciting considering the fact that we know that God’s word succeeds in what it sets out to do. When we put the two together, we see that God’s work will equip those who so desire to obey His commands.

     This is why it is so important for us to read and study our Bibles. It can be easy for us to relegate study to the realm of the unimportant. We often act as though it is something that we could take it or leave it. It is a nice hobby if you have time, but it is not necessary for Christians to do. In fact, however, the word of God is a necessary tool in our spiritual walk. To neglect it is to skirt spiritual death.

     It can become discouraging as Christians when we try so hard to be the Christians we ought to be and find ourselves continually failing. We wonder why we do not have the strength to do what we know we should. However, if we neglect our time in the word of God, we should not be suprised to see this as the result.  Our power comes through the word of God. On the plus side, we can also see that the word of God is capable of fulfilling its purpose. That means that if we will study the word, then we will start gathering the tools necessary to equip us for every good work.

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding {in the matter} for which I sent it.

1 Corinthians 12:9

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

     So much of our lives consist of avoiding are weaknesses. Think about all the time that we spend trying to maintain the image of strength. A great example is what happens to me at the gym sometimes. I go in to work. As I go over to grab my tiny ten pound weights, I see this huge football player curling fifties. I decide that I would be better of working on the elliptical machine. After all, it would be embarassing for me to go over there and struggle with my puny weights in front of him.

     The irony of the situation is that I am actually making myself weaker. What I should do is go over there and lift the weights. Instead of spending time improving my weakness so I may one day lift fifty pounds, I go and focus on the things that I am already good at. I get so involved in trying to look strong that I do not spend time actually trying to make myself strong. This irony extends to our every day lives when we give up improving ourselves for the false image of perfection.

     Instead of that attitude, like Paul we should bask in our weakness. We rejoice not because of a perverse attitude toward strength, but for a chance to show the glory of our God. When we are weak, we have another opportunity to rely on the Lord. It is a chance for our faith to grow. And it allows us to prove that without a doubt Paul was speaking the truth when he said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). If instead of trying to pretend we are strong we turn our weaknesses over to God, He will help us overcome.

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

1 Corinthians 2:1

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

     Every person wants their lives to mean something. This is the basis for the mid-life crisis. People look back at their lives and they wonder what it all meant. Have they done any good? Have they left the world in a better place than they found it? If they look back on their lives and find themselves deficient in this category, it can be very disheartening.

     Those who want to make the world a better place need to realize the principle action that must occur for them to be successful: change. If they do not enact change in the world, then they have not helped the world become a better place. In order to accomplish this goal, people must desire to change things. It is only through change that we can improve the current model.

      It may be discouraging to think that we need to offer change in order to make things better. However, we should take courage. The amazing aspect of this story is that there is no special ability needed in order to cause change. We do not have to be a super-intelligent scientist nor a wealthy tycoon, nor even a dynamic speaker. In fact, the only tool we need is widely available to any of us. It is the word of God. The word of God brings about change in people’s lives, and it is always a positive change. If we can bring even one soul to God by presenting the Word, then we have made the world a better place.

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

Psalm 61:2

From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

     I often go on many road trips. However, to say that my car is less than reliable would be a huge understatement. My bumper and battery cables are held on by zip ties, so you can probably imagine the condition of my car. One of the things that I appreciate about my trips is that I know people from where I start, where I end, and even some who live in the middle. All of them have expressed to me that if I ever have any car trouble that they are just a phone call away and they will do whatever they can to help.

     It is a safe feeling to know that you have friends who you can call on to help. It gives us a sense of security. It should also be encouraging for us that we have such a relationship with God. God is a friend to those who are seeking a better country (Heb. 11:16). He also lets us know that we can call on Him if we ever need anything. The best part is that He is never in a meeting. We do not have to worry if His cell phone ran out of batter. He is availabe at any time and any place.

     It is even better when we realize just who it is that we are calling on. I have friends that would do anything they could to help me. Yet their ability pales in comparison to that of the Creator of the universe. God has more power than any of us could possibly understand or imagine. He can do things in our lives that we would have never thought possible. It is truly a comfort for those who are following Him to know that not only is He always available, He also has the power to meet our needs in every way. 

From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psalm 59:10

My God in His lovingkindness will meet me; God will let me look {triumphantly} upon my foes.

     It can be so easy to get discouraged as a Christian. When we look around about us at the world, we see that there sin everywhere. We see people who not only do not care about God, but are actively seeking to thwart Him. The disparage those who are Christians. They find ways to impede them. Truth be told, if they had their way they would silence Christians forever. More and more these people gain leverage in our society to where we feel that they are overcoming our influence.

      Even more so, we see that we have enemies in the spiritual realm. Satan and his cohorts are looking to thwart us at every turn. They are trying to cause us to fall. Sometimes they may be more successful than others. In our weaker moments we might even have doubts that there is any chance for victory. It seems as though we might as well concede defeat to Satan and save ourselves the time. How would we be able to overcome Him?

      No matter who may oppose us and our faith, we need to keep in mind that the Lord is on our side. He has already defeated death. He is omnipotent. There is no being in either the spiritual or physical realm that can stand against Him. Not even if all beings combined against Him would they have the strength. That means that when we, as Christians, go to battle we have assurance. We know that we have victory. The Lord will help us to overcome any who stand in our path, if we will only trust in Him. All hail the King of Kings!

My God in His lovingkindness will meet me; God will let me look {triumphantly} upon my foes.

Matthew 18:33

‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’

     Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Personal experience and observation shows us that we have all sinned repeatedly against God. Such sin ruins our relationship with Him. It creates a barrier between us and Him. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do that makes up for our sin. There is nothing we can offer that would cause us to be right with God. That being the case, we are completely at His mercy. Were it not for His grace, we would all surely face judgment.

      Sometimes other people sin against us. In Matthew 18, Jesus uses a parable to show us how forgiving we are required to be. Whenver someone wrongs us, it is very easy for us to want to nurse that angry. We want to hold onto the bitterness.  We may let them have some restoration of the relationship back, but we really prefer that what they did to loom over them like a dark cloud, making them remember what it is they did or maybe even how gracious we are.

     As Christians, these attitudes have no place in our hearts. We need to have an attitude of forgiveness. The mercy we show should emulate what God has given us. He has completely removed that stain, and it no longer impacts our relationship with Him. Considering how often we sin against Him, should we not be able to forgive our brother’s lesser debts? By showing mercy to others, we recognize the great mercy God has shown to us. If we refuse to show mercy, God will not show mercy when it comes time to pay our debts.

‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’

Revelation 4:11

“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” 

     In Revelation 4, we see the creatures and elders, who had just thrown their crowns before God, offer this praise to Him. Often times we mimic this praise to God. We call God worthy of glory and honor and power. Many of our songs are directed to these exact thoughts and concepts. Yet if we are going to call God worthy of such things, we need to make sure that our actions follow our words. Too often such praises are empty because there is no action following them up.

     Is God worthy of our praise? Is He worthy of honor? If so, we need to make sure that He gets the praise. Sometimes we like to praise ourselves instead. Othertimes we just do not think or remember to give God thanks for all the things He has done for us. We can allow ourselves to get so busy that we do not properly honor God. Praise for God is carried out in more than just our worship services. We need to praise and honor God in all aspects of our lives.

      Also, we need to be consistent if we say that God is worthy to receive power. Among the different aspects of power is authority. By saying that God is worthy of power, we are also saying that He is worthy of authority in our lives. Yet many times we do not live this out. We ignore what He has commanded us. Instead we give ourselves the power to decide what is best. This is a mistake. God is truly worthy of all power, praise and honor. We need to make sure that we live accordingly.

“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” 

Acts 14:17

and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”

Sometimes life really gets us down. It is so easy to get discouraged. We look all around us, and it seems that the only thing that we can see is misery. We wonder why our lives did not go this way or that. Why do we not have more money or more friends? Our hearts start to drag. We become weary about trying to live our lives. In our most desperate hours we may even start to doubt our faith.

However, we need to remember that in fact God has given us many blessings. We tend to focus on the negative. However God has given us so much. He has given us all of the meals that we eat. He has given us the world in which we live. Everything that is good about this earth came from God. And God made it for us. He gave it to us because He wanted us to have a good dwelling place. He has watched over and taken care of us in every way. When we feel that there is nothing right in our lives, we need to look again, and focus instead on what we do have.

What is even more encouraging about all of this is that these gifts show us something amazing about God. First of all, as Paul says, this gifts our given as a witness to us about Him. He wants us to recognize that He is there, involved in our lives. Second of all, the gifts are a sign of His love. You do not give gifts to those you despise. Instead they are given for those you care about. When we look at the positive things in life, those gifts of God should not just make us happy because we have them, but because they speak of the intentions of a Father who loves us greatly.

and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”