Archive - September 4, 2015

 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us— not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. He poured out this Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:3-7

It’s easy to forget who we were without Christ. We peer out our window at “those lost people,” glad that we’ve got it all together. But Paul reminds Timothy before closing his letter that “we too” were like them.

Foolish
Disobedient
Deceived
Enslaved by passions and pleasures
Living in malice and envy
Hateful, detesting one another

But God. He saved us  – not because of how great we are, but through His mercy. The Holy Spirit washed us clean by the grace of Jesus so that we “may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.”

And yet, the very next verse, Paul reminds us to “devote [ourselves] to good works.” This is a reminder that our good works cannot and do not save us. However, they are the fruit that the world sees. They are evidence of the change inside us. With these works, we do not proclaim how great we are but how amazing our God is.

This Labor Day weekend, let’s take time to reflect on who we are without God’s mercy and thank Him that we don’t have to live that way any more.