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.

Frankly, not too many people seem to have this understanding of grace today. We tend to think of it as a “get out of jail free card,” when this presents a very different picture. I find in my reading that I keep coming back to the point that grace is not license. This is a point Paul had to spend some time on in writing to the Romans, because our devious minds look for ways to “get away with” all sorts of things, not understanding that every one of God’s rules are for our good. Up until Christ, people would have said that the Law did all the things that Paul talks about here, and Paul spent much of his ministry trying to liberate people from that way of thinking. The whole letter to the Galatians was written for that purpose. The better we understand the grace of God, the more we will rejoice to be obedient to the Holy Spirit. In talking with young couples about parenting I point out that we are insecure without boundaries, and proper discipline establishes those boundaries in children. God gave the Law to give us some boundaries, but we spend all of our time running over those boundaries! What Paul is saying here is that when we grasp the grace of God, we rejoice to walk in the security of His love for us, boundaries and all.

I’ve spent plenty of time jumping boundaries, and I know the very literal, physical rush of deliberately doing something I know is not right but that caters to my flesh. I have also experienced the grace of God exactly as Paul lays it out here, and I am deeply grateful. The pleasures of sin are no match for the grace of God! This should give me insight in dealing with others, because everyone struggles with this in one way or another. I am not to excuse sin, in myself or in anyone else, but I am to remember and to teach that the grace of God is far more powerful, and infinitely more rewarding, than any sin. To the degree that I allow the Holy Spirit to impart that understanding to the believers through me, we will walk in peace, joy, and victory, and that is what God desires for us.

Father, thank You for the magnificence, the completeness of Your grace. Help me be an ever-increasing channel of that grace, in all purity, rejoicing in it myself even as I extend it to others. Keep me from giving the mistaken impression that is called “hyper grace,” and keep me also from diluting Your grace in any way, so that this church may walk in all that You intend, for the destruction of the works of the enemy and the salvation of many, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!