(REFLECTIONS ON Titus 3:1-8)

Sometimes all we need is an opportunity, a chance to start over again, to be freed from the past with hope for change. This is our opportunity in Christ. Paul writes to Titus in today’s Scripture,

3 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. 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.

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This is the work of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We have been reborn and renewed, not to live as we have in the past, not be stuck in what happened before without hope for getting out, but this is our opportunity in Christ to leave the foolishness of the past and live in the goodness that God desires for us to live.

Through God’s mercy, this is our opportunity in Christ “to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.” Through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit we are to devote ourselves to doing what is good. “These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”

This is our second chance at life, not the life we once lived, but the life that God desires for us to live. This is our second chance at healthy and loving relationships with God and His people. This is our opportunity in Christ. May we know this, live this, and share this as the message of the cross to the hopeless, to the spiritually blind, and be reminded ourselves today as well.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Titus 3