Daily Devotional

-January 3, 2021-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-God’s Grace In Salvation And Sanctification-

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age.”

(Titus 2:11-12).

God’s grace is the all important aspect of our lives. Grace is God’s unmerited favor lavishly poured out on us. We should always remember how sinful and undeserving we are of all of God’s blessings. Someone came up with the acronym for grace as God’s riches at Christ’s expense, which is so true.

God’s grace has appeared to all men. We are saved by grace through faith. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Salvation is all from God by His matchless grace. We have nothing to boast about whatsoever. We just had to believe and receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. God gave us the gift of eternal life and we just had to open it.

Grace is not only shown to us in salvation but also in sanctification. God has made us holy and gives us the grace to live holy lives. Anything we do or achieve for the Lord is by His grace. Paul lists five things we must do to in this present age: deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, live soberly, righteously, and godly. We put off the bad and put on the good.

Ungodliness and worldly lusts are stumbling blocks for the Christian. Before we were saved this is how we lived; that is all we knew. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

God’s grace helps us to deny worldliness, being like the world, and ungodliness, which acts in a way that is against God’s ways. We must just say no to the evil, wicked things of this world that we once walked in.

Instead, we must live soberly, not just without the control of alcohol, but also seriously and carefully; righteously, thus doing what is right in God’s sight; and godly, which is to be like Christ. None of us are perfect but we are growing and becoming more like Christ. With the challenge of living for Christ in this sinful world comes all the resources of the Word of God and the help of the Holy Spirit.

Let us never forget that we are saved by grace and kept by grace. We need God’s grace to live a sanctified life. We cannot do it on our own or by our own strength.

Have a blessed day living by God’s grace. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean