Good Morning Friends,
We often think of grace as God’s answer to our past. We have sinned, we have failed, we cannot save ourselves, and God graciously forgives us through Jesus Christ. That is wonderfully true. But the apostle Paul takes grace one step further. Grace does not merely pardon us; grace trains us toward sanctification.
In Titus 2:11–14, Paul describes the grace of God as something that has appeared in Jesus Christ, bringing salvation and teaching us how to live. Grace trains us to say “No” to what pulls us away from God and “Yes” to a life that is self-controlled, upright, and godly. And it teaches us to live with our eyes forward, waiting in hope for Christ. That changes the way we think about Christian obedience. We do not obey so that God will love us. We obey because, in Christ, God has already loved us. Holiness is not the price we pay for grace; it is the life grace begins to produce in us. Grace therefore looks backward, inward, outward, and forward. It reminds us of what Christ has done, reshapes who we are becoming, changes how we live with others, and teaches us to hope for what Christ will finally accomplish.So perhaps the question is not simply, “Have I received God’s grace?” The deeper question is: “What is God’s grace training you and me to become?”
Scripture Summaries:
Titus 2:1–8, 11–14 Paul tells Titus that sound faith should become visible in ordinary life. Older and younger believers alike are called to lives of self-control, integrity, love, perseverance, and good works. But Paul does not begin with human effort. At the heart of the passage is grace. God’s grace has appeared in Jesus Christ, bringing salvation and training us to leave behind what draws us away from God and to live faithfully as people eager to do what is good.
Luke 17:7–10 Jesus describes a servant who simply carries out the work entrusted to him. Faithful obedience is not a way of putting God in our debt. When we have done what God asks, we have simply done our duty.
Message: There is a subtle temptation in the Christian life. After years of worship, service, giving, singing, teaching, leading, or caring for others, we may begin to think, Surely God owes me something. Jesus turns that thinking upside down. The servant in his story does not finish the day’s work and present the master with an invoice. He simply says, in effect, “I have done what was mine to do.” At first, that can sound severe. Until we place Jesus’ words beside Paul’s words to Titus. Paul says that “the grace of God has appeared.” That changes everything. Christian obedience is not the price we pay to receive God’s grace. It is the life we live because grace has already come to us. We don’t serve God so that God will love us. In Christ, God has loved us first. We don’t perform good works to earn salvation. Grace saves us and then begins reshaping us into people who genuinely desire what is good. Notice Paul’s language: grace trains us. Grace is not merely God’s forgiveness when we fail. Grace becomes our teacher. It gradually teaches us patience instead of anger, generosity instead of selfishness, humility instead of pride, faithfulness instead of convenience.That means the evidence of grace often appears in surprisingly ordinary places: keeping our word, controlling our tongue, caring for someone who cannot repay us, doing the unnoticed job, showing up again, forgiving again, serving again. And when we have done it?Jesus says we don’t stand before God demanding recognition. We simply say, “Lord, I have done what you gave me to do.”There is great freedom in that. We don’t have to be impressive. We only have to be faithful. And even that faithfulness is finally a response to grace.
And So, Grace saves us as we are, but God’s Grace loves us too much to leave us as we are. So “What is God’s grace training you and me to become?” Where might Christ be calling you today simply to do the next faithful thing, not for recognition or reward, but because you belong to Jesus?
Pray we thank You Gracious God, because we do not have to earn your love. Pray we accept Your grace that has come to us in Jesus Christ. Pray You train us through that grace to live with integrity, self-control, love, and faithfulness. Pray we be fruitful. Pray You free us from needing recognition for what we do. Pray You give us humble hearts that are eager to serve, so that at the end of each day we can simply say, “Lord, I have done what you gave me to do.” Pray You make our lives a grateful response to the grace we have already received. Amen.
Blessings,
John Lawson
