A Favorite Verse

Yesterday, I got to read one of my favorite passages in the Bible - Titus 2:11-14. This passage has been such an encouragement to me over the past three years or so, and it was read at our wedding this past summer. It's such a beautiful, concise example of what it truly means to live a gospel life. I've always gotten so much out these four short verses of the Bible, but the ESV editors give it even more meaning.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

~Titus 2:11-14~

Grace - "One cannot truly claim to be a recipient of saving grace without also being a pupil of 'training grace'." This is one of the biggest changes in my life in recent years. I have always claimed to know God's saving grace, but only recently have I come under his "training grace" - where my life daily reflects my love of Him above all other things. This verse is all about what life actually looks like in the day to day for those who have been touched by God's gospel of grace - Jesus Christ.

Eager expectation - The Greek for the term "waiting" in this verse is "prosdechomai" and it carries the connotation of eagerness. As I get to know my great God and Savior Jesus more and more, I eagerly wait for the day I will see his face and know Him more than I do now.

Holiness - "To forsake Godliness is to despise the sacrifice of Christ." The purpose of Christ's sacrifice was to make his people holy, so that we can appear before our Father in heaven. If I don't strive to be holy and obedient to Christ, I am despising what he did for me on the cross. Because Christ died, I have His Spirit, and therefore I have the ability to say "NO" to ungodliness and "yes" to righteousness.

A Prized Possession - Does it ever strike you as amazing that God loves us? I mean, He actually treasures us, even though we are defiant, needy, dirty failures. God wants us to be his possession, and the connotation in the Greek is a "prized, treasured possession." God enjoys His people. God enjoys me and loves me and values me. It humbles me each and every day.

Zealous for good works - Because of Christ's example of service and ultimate sacrifice for us, we should be doing good works for others. There is no excuse not to live a life of service. My life is completely lacking in this area. I cannot believe how little I serve when I have a servant God who gave everything for me. This quote from the ESV editors is convicting: "There is no room for claiming to be redeemed while providing no evidence of practical transformation." You should be able to see my redemption in the good works I do every day. I have so much to learn...but I have a God who has already saved me and keeps me in training day after day.



Pleasing to God

How crazy is it that we can please God? That the God of the universe, who created us, and whom we have failed time and time again, can still take pleasure in us? That we can actually behave in ways that bring him joy?

I think that's what so much of this journey through the Bible this year has been about for me. How can I everyday acknowlege my own sin, my shortcomings, be transparent about my failures before God and before man, and still strive to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord? It seems like a strange juxtaposition, yet the Bible makes it clear that those who are in Christ CAN live in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. Because Christ's righteousness has been given to us, and through the power of the Holy Spirit to fight the sinful tendancies of our flesh, we can bring God pleasure with the way we live our lives in this fallen world.

As he encourages believers, Paul's epistles nearly always touch on this idea of living to please the Lord. II Corinthians 5:9 says: "So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him." Paul also commends the Philippians on their thoughtful gift to him (they sent him money during his imprisonment in Rome), calling it "a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God" (Phil. 4:18). And Paul tells the church at Colasse to "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in knowledge of God" (Col. 1:10).

So whether in life or death, with the gifts I give, with the works I do, in my devotion to learning God's word, my aim is to please the Lord. And because of Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God advocating on my behalf, my life, though imperfect in so many ways, is genuinely pleasing to the absolutely holy and perfect God who made me and loves me.

Follow Me?

Paul says in I Corinthians 11:1 "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." Whoa, Paul. Really? What a huge claim, right? But Paul is not arrogant. He is confident in who He is in Christ, who Christ has called him to be, and reassurred by the Holy Spirit that He is living a life obedient to God. He doesn't claim to be perfect. He admits that he used to "violently" persecute the church of God (Galatians 1:13). He says he still struggles against sin often ("I do the very thing I hate" - Romans 7:15), yet he knows and loves the Lord so much much that he can confidently tell others to follow the example of his life.

And this is not the only time he commands the church to follow him. Paul also tells the Phillipians to "join in imitating me" (3:17), he reminds that Timothy has "followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith" (I Timothy 3:10), and he tells the Thessalonian church it "ought to imitate us" (us being Paul and his fellow missionaries - II Thess. 3:7-9). And Paul is not the only one to promote this idea of mimicry. The unknown author of Hebrews says "Remember your leaders...and imitate their faith" (13:7) and Peter tells church leaders to "shepherd the flock of God...being examples to the flock" (5:2-3).

Clearly, these claims to "follow me" are a specific circumstance. These are apostles telling other church leaders to follow their example. Secondly, they are telling church leaders to set an example for their own congregations. I am not going to stand up on Sunday and tell my church to follow me. I am not a church leader. I am a woman who should not be leading men in the church. But does this still apply to me in a sense? I mean I UTTERLY fail all the time. I hope this blog has been transparent about that. I am impatient, selfish, prideful. I even try to paint myself in a good light, instead of just being open about how sinful and weak I am. But I also love God, and I know the Holy Spirit is at work in my life, and I know that by God's grace alone (and my NO effort of my own) I have become a much more disciplined and obedient person in recent years. Again praise be to God, this has nothing to with me. But should I take seriously that people will and even should follow me? Should other women, especially those slightly younger than me, high school and college students, former students (now friends) from Young Life and church ministry follow me? That seems weird, because I feel so unworthy to be followed most of the time. But one of the ways that we are the body of Christ on this earth is by setting an example of Him for other believers, especially younger believers who have few or no good examples in their life. If I am being obedient to Christ, then my life should be worthy of being followed. We are privileged to get to be an example of Christ on this earth, not only in the way we love and serve those who do not know Him, but in the way we show other believers how to be more LIKE him.

Not everyone should follow me. I think men should find a Godly male example to follow. Most women should NOT follow me. There are so many older, wiser, meeker, stronger women that I imitate because they show me Christ. But for those girls that are slightly younger, for those girls or young women whom I have mentored or discipled in the past... follow me. I love Jesus more and more each day, and I want you to love him and be changed by him and live for him. I don't ever want you to follow me for me. That would be dismal. I want you to follow me only because I follow Christ and He is so worth following.