Paul starts the second paragraph of chapter 3 in verse 3 saying why we could not help ourselves, 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. Those are some pretty strong words, but when I think about it, I really can’t argue with Paul in his description of me, for the most part. But then Paul goes on to say what God has done for us, 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. If we haven’t read it somewhere else before, Paul reminds us here of God’s amazing grace to us. Paul talks about God’s kindness, love, mercy, and generosity to us through His Son and Holy Spirit. Nothing we have is our own. It is all from God because of His grace.
2012 Day 290 – Titus 3
16 Tuesday Oct 2012
Posted in Daily Reading
Daily Devotion 
Sometimes it can be useful to consider items in a list one at a time:
3 At one time we too were…
* foolish: Yep, got me on that one. And not just youthful ignorance… there have been wayyyy to many times I thought I knew better than God. That’s kinda the definition of foolishness.
*disobedient: Ouch. Wish I had a penny for every time I disobeyed the Lord. Another word for that is sin.
*deceived: Satan is the father of lies, and his goal has always been and continues to be to deceive man. Even though Satan gets some of the blame as the deceiver, we the deceived often swallow the lies without using our brain and/or heart to discern the truth–usually because we don’t really want to know the truth. Satan is a master liar because he knows what we want to hear.
*enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures: That, my friend, is the definition of modern America. We have taken the pursuit of happiness to its illogical extreme–and become enslaved to a host of things along the way. Think about how hard we work to maintain a “lifestyle”–as opposed to having a life!
*We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another: Yeah, even in my youth I didn’t hate most people and even loved many. But before I got changed from the inside out by the Holy Spirit, there were people I hated. Even now I am tempted to hate. There is nothing more vile and few things that make me feel worse.
Thankfully Jesus washed us and we do not live in that mud anymore. Not to say that I don’t sometimes sit in the mud when I shouldn’t, but that is not who I am anymore.
God bless you, Dino!
== Ross-a-roni ==
Great thoughts Ross! Each one of you points made me think and reminded be that Christ has cleansed me of all theses things and I am no longer a slave to them. I forget that sometimes and try to “figure it out” on my own. Thank you for your thoughts and the awesome reminder!
God bless you too, Ross!!