Unwrapping Advent: Through Voices of Wisdom Dec. 27
Friday, December 27, 2024
Day 27
4 But when God our savior’s
kindness and love appeared,
5he saved us because of his mercy,
not because of righteous things we had done.
He did it through the washing of new birth
and the renewing by the Holy Spirit,
6which God poured out upon us generously
through Jesus Christ our savior.
7So, since we have been made righteous by his grace,
we can inherit the hope for eternal life.
Titus 3:4-7, CEB
Generous Love
The Epistle of Titus is attributed to Paul the Apostle, written while he was between his imprisonments. Paul is writing to Titus, a former gentile who converted to Christianity. Titus considered himself a “born-again” Gentile Christian teaching about salvation, acquired only by God’s mercy and not human deeds.
I have a friend that is about to go through a complete wipe-out of her internal body as she knows it. What was inside her will be replaced by something completely new and foreign. She has a rare form of cancer such that doctors will need to completely remove her current immune system and replace it with a new immune system. Her old immune system is destroying her body. This new system, that someone kindly and lovingly donates, will give her new life and hopes of living this earthly life longer.
Think about that for a moment. Is this not what God does for us? We live a life filled with greed, hate, anger, disobedience, selfishness (read Titus 3:3), which leads us to a life of destruction, destroying us internally as well as externally.
Then, God appears and in His infinite love, kindness, and mercy, He “generously” replaces the old and renews us through Jesus Christ. God made us new through Jesus Christ so “we can inherit a new life of hope, an eternal life.”
Reflect: Picture a life without God. Is your internal speak negative? Is your life filled with selfish desires? Do you feel loved?
Now, picture a life with God. Did I see a smile of peace and hope, a feeling of being made new?
This is what God promises, a “new birth,” a “renewing” through Jesus Christ. How are you going to share this renewal?
Pray: Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for Your kindness, love, and mercy. My life before You was destructive, leading to death. You made a path for me, through Jesus Christ, to have an eternal life filled with love, help, healing, hope, and joy. Continue to guide me down this path to eternal life.
Aubrey Kennedy
Thirst to Thrive