Titus 2:11-13 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Paul is famous for his long sentences, and this is a minor example of that. They require some real thinking to grasp them properly, but they do show how things are interrelated. Here, he has just been talking to slaves about their relationship to their masters, which is a subject we don’t want to think is related to us. However, some employment situations aren’t much better, and in any case it leads into what Paul says here. The point is that no situation is so bad as to overshadow the magnificence of God’s grace toward us. The better we understand that grace, the better equipped we are to to resist the temptations of the world and live as God desires and intends us to do. It gives us a joyous anticipation of Christ’s return, because it helps us grasp the reality that everything in this world put together can’t hold a candle to the magnificence of what God has prepared for us in Christ. We are very slow to learn that lesson, on the one hand clinging to things of this world and on the other, seeing the problems of this life as insurmountable. God wants to lift us out of that pitiful state into the realm of faith and trust, so that we may walk in peace and joy whatever is going on around us.

I well remember the hymn, “The Solid Rock,” that is about precisely this subject. Too often we sing songs in church without really processing the words through our minds and hearts. If we did, we would realize that some songs should be discarded, but many are useful to teach, encourage, and strengthen us in our daily walk. I feel my family’s love of Christian music as I was growing up was a great blessing. Some of the songs used archaic language that was hard to relate to, some were simply silly, and a few were downright unbiblical, but there were quite a few treasures. As a pastor, I need to seek every way I can to communicate the reality of the grace we have received, and good songs are an excellent tool. That’s a major reason the devil seems to target musicians, right along with pastors and teachers, because their influence is so great. I need to pray for the musicians in this church, that they would be protected and that they would grow in faith and knowledge as well as in musicianship, so that they may be fully effective in leading us all in praise and worship. I need to use the broad foundation I’ve been given in this area to teach lyrics that will equip the believers to stand firm and strong, in full commitment to the Lord of glory.

Father, this went in a quite unexpected direction. That gives me all the more reason to feel it’s from You! Thank You for Your faithfulness to speak to and through me. Help me receive and apply all that You say, not thinking it’s just for “them,” but knowing that I need Your grace as much as anyone. Help us as a congregation rejoice in and walk in Your grace at all times, extending that grace to all who will receive it, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!