Once we were, but now we are; so, we should live as we are, not as we were. This is the context of Paul’s letter. In reminding Titus, Paul also reminds us that our salvation is completely of God’s working. “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy… so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3.4-7). God in His “goodness” and “kindness,” in his earnest desire to draw us to Himself, in seeing us helpless, lost in the world and dead in sin saved us. He did not have to forgive us of sin; He did not have to redeem us through the blood of Christ; He did not have to free us from the bondage of sin and the fierce hold of the enemy; He did not have to adopt us as His children; He did not have to indwell us with His Spirit; He did not have to provide for all our needs; He did not have to give us the hope of eternity in His presence. But God graciously did.
Our salvation is not what we deserved; it is not what we earned; it is not what we purchased; it is not what desired; it is not what we saw as good. Our salvation is all because of who God is and what He accomplished. It is because the eternal and sovereign God mercifully drew us to Himself; it is because He looked upon us in His favor and called us to be His children; it is because He chose us in Christ to be the recipients of His grace; it is because He saw us in the deadness of sins and our destined judgment and rescued us from the fires of hell. Our salvation is because He “justified us by grace;” it is because He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the sacrifice for our sins, to die on the Cross and pay the penalty of sin in our place; it is because He made us righteous in Christ, taking away all our guilt and all the judgment we rightly deserved; it is because in Christ He has established us absolutely righteous. All for His glory and our great benefit.
Free, alive, and justified in Christ – we have much to be thankful for –
Terry Burlingame
My Morning Desk 