40-Day Devotion, Day 27
PREPARATION: READ TITUS 3:3-8
Let The Truth Set You Free
Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, made up an illustration to help people visualize the story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Take your hands and place them together with your palms touching each other. This is the picture of Adam and Eve in perfect harmony with God in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Now take your right hand and turn it so that the palm faces outward and away from the left hand. This represents Adam and Eve turning from God because of sin. Turn your left hand and face it outward away from your right hand. This symbolizes God judging Adam, Eve and the whole human race by casting them out of the Garden.
Finally, take your left hand and bring it slowly back around so that the palm faced inward, its original position. This shows a restored relationship between God and humans due to the reconciliation through the cross of Christ. Even though the right hand is still facing outward and away from the left, the left hand now faces the right, just as God faces the sinner and offers reconciliation. All that is left is for us to turn back to God.
Chafer’s illustration is powerful and helpful, and not just because it speaks to the kinesthetic learners. It also offers an important reminder: God made thefirst move to restore the relationship our sin broke. Even while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That is the story of the Gospel and it sets us free. We are no longer slaves to sin, but are free to live for Christ.
Each of this week’s devotions has come from Paul’s letter to Titus. At this point, you probably understand that Titus had been left in Crete for a specific purpose: “to straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint Elders...” (Titus 1:5). It was not an easy task. Not only did the Church face opposition from the outside, but they also struggled to overcome a reputation and past that were both tarnished. Titus 1:12 explains: “Even one of their own prophets has said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy glu ons.’” Without question they had a checkered past. Of course, if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit we do, too.
In the passage we read today, Paul reminded Titus we are all in need of God’s grace. He used the term “we,” which not only included himself, but also you and me. Look back at verses 3-5. Notice the strong words Paul uses: foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by passion (desires) and pleasures, filled with malice and hatred. Wow, what a scathing indictment! Shame on you, Paul. Shame on you, Titus. Shame on you, Cretans. Shame on you... uh... ME!
Granted, every word may not apply to every one of us, but we identify with many if not most. We were enslaved by our passions and pleasures. We couldn’t do any better. We needed help. You couldn’t help me and I surely couldn’t help you. Remember the old song, “Looking for love in all the wrong places”? That was our plight. No matter what we tried – politics, drugs, alcohol, food – it never provided relief. No matter how many times we pledged to turn over a new leaf, like I used to do every Monday morning, it never worked. The search for significance and relief from the slavery of sin always leads down a winding path to destruction, until we learn where deliverance truly lies. Paul reminded Titus where to look: just behind the little conjunction in verse 4: “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.”
Do you see that? God has taken the initiative in setting us free. In His kindness and love, He reached out to us and made a way for salvation. What we couldn’t do for ourselves, He did on our behalf! That’s why, as you read through our passage, you realize that everything is about God. He did the work through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. He provided our salvation, He justified us, He has made us heirs to all things through Jesus Christ. He has offered us eternal life, and He has given us hope!
Never lose the wonder of God’s mercy and grace. Never forget what God invested in us to secure our salvation. He alone freed us from enslavement to sin. So how should we respond? We are to live a life of devotion to doing what is good. Before our salvation we couldn’t do enough good to get to Heaven but, after He has saved us, our lives should reflect the excellent and profitable nature of our relationship with our Lord. Let’s live as people who have been set free! (To continue reading, please go to my comment below.)