Grace

             For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, (Titus 2:11-12)

            I don’t know how many times I’ve read this verse, but clearly not enough. The idea that the grace of God offers salvation to all people is good Sunday School stuff. We know we’ve been saved by grace. I may be the only one (I doubt it), but if you’d asked me about grace before this morning, I think I would have considered grace being passive. We are saved by grace rather than grace saving us. It’s a tiny, seemingly insignificant difference that, right now, makes a lot of difference to me.

            The first thing Paul tells us is that grace of God appeared. I wish this were one of those showstopper sorts of events. Unfortunately, our lives are set to a soundtrack, so we don’t have the orchestra's swelling to signal its arrival. For some of us, grace is direct, but I suspect that’s more the exception than the rule. We may not even notice it at the time it arrives. At the same time, grace does appear in every aspect of our lives. After all, we have nothing, including our lives, because we have earned or deserve them.

            He adds that the grace that appears offers salvation. Like everything else we have, nothing about us results in our deserving salvation. We tend to think of salvation is being rescued from sin and Hell. While that’s true, what may be more important is that we are saved to Christ, by Christ, in Christ. Salvation is what brings God and us together, which means grace reunites us with God. Salvation is God giving us Himself.

            Finally, he says that grace teaches us two basic things: to say “No” to three things: ungodliness, worldly passions, and this present age. It also teaches us to say “Yes” to self-control, uprightness, and godliness.

            I wish I could tell you what this means and show you want it looks like. Perhaps you understand it while I don’t. I just can’t help but think that I’m missing something that, if I understood it, would make a huge difference in my life. But because I don’t understand it, I can do only one thing. I can depend on God’s grace to teach me.