For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Titus 2:11-14 (NASB)
There is something special about being chosen, when someone treats you like their own family, it is a step further than being good friends. An example I can give is of two very close friends; we cherish each other as brothers. A whole new level of such an adoption is found in God’s Word, where He adopts people as His family. We can read of this first in the Old Testament where God chooses Abraham and his descendants as His; we find this promise further reiterated in Exodus when God rescues Israel from their slavery in Egypt, if they will obey His Word (Exodus 19:5).
We find the same relationship in the New Testament, between God and believers born again through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, His beloved Son. It is an awesome thought that the Almighty God of the Universe should deign to adopt us who are soiled in worldly sin if we would just repent, and change our ways. This is the foundation of today’s chosen text from Titus. By the deliberate choice of God’s grace, He has made a way for us to be saved from our sin, lighting a New Path for us by His Son – in and through Him we are called as a holy possession of the Father. Think about that for a moment! There are three main points of this new relationship; first, we are adopted by God’s choice of love. Second, our new Father is jealous – He wants us to be separate from sinfulness in others, He calls us to be holy as He is holy. If we do not fulfill number two we cannot complete number three; He calls us to be holy that we may serve Him – He is “zealous for good deeds!”
Dear Reader, if you know and love Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you are chosen by Him and His Father, Almighty God. You are adopted into the holy family of Heaven. This makes us different from those who reject God; we must be separated from them and their ways. Such people are walking a different road than us, but we can serve God by sharing His Way with them and the hope we have in Him.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Devotional Treasures
