Titus 2: Guidelines for Christian Living

What does Christian Living look like? In the book of Titus, Paul gives some examples of Christian living to aspire to. Older men and women should stay sober, avoiding gossip, using good judgement, and be examples of love and virtue to younger people. The young believers should also use good judgement, and teach with an aura of purity and dignity.

In verses 11-14 Paul says the following:

11 After all, God’s saving kindness Or “grace.” has appeared for the benefit of all people.  

12 It trains us to avoid ungodly lives filled with worldly desires so that we can live self-controlled, moral, and godly lives in this present world. 

13 At the same time we can expect what we hope for—the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

14 He gave himself for us to set us free from every sin and to cleanse us so that we can be his special people who are enthusiastic about doing good things.

 

The bolded part is mine. How many of you have ever trained for something? Maybe it was in the military, or on a job, or for a sporting event? Training is usually difficult and time consuming, and it involves preparation for a difficult task that could not be done if we didn't take the time and effort to train properly. 

 

If I wanted to run a marathon, I would have to start but running a mile until I mastered that, and then 2 miles, and add on to my endurance week by week until I built up enough endurance to run the entire 26.2 mile race. I'd have to change my diet, and track my progress. I'd have to commit to a daily routine and the hours involved that I needed to run. Basically, training takes a lot of effort. Christian Living is no different. It takes a lot of effort on our part to reject the worldly pursuits and live godly lives in this world. It was no easier 2,000 years ago than it is today.

Understand this about training: you're learning, and by proxy you don't know everything. It also means we're not going to make this transition overnight. We need this training because we don't understand how to live godly lives. We will fail, we will have setbacks, and we will need to build up endurance against the adversity of this world.

The other important thing about training is that it really helps to have a Trainer. When you train alone, it's very easy to take shortcuts or give up when things get difficult. Having a Trainer keeps you focused and on task. That's the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit which resides inside us. The Holy Spirit is our ultimate Trainer. We can rely on the Spirit to guide us because Jesus gave himself up as a sacrifice for our sins.

Does that mean we have to do good deeds to be Christians? Far from it. The work in Jesus was already perfected. We do not have to gild the lily of his sacrifice. He was the perfect lamb, and his blood shed for us means that we are cleansed completely of sin, and as Paul says, "We can be his special people."

But Paul also says we can be enthusiastic about doing good things. Not required but elated! It's not our duty to live well and do good deeds, it's the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives. For if you are a changed and saved person, do you believe the Holy Spirit would train you to hide your faith away from public view? Of course not!

 

In Matthew 5:15 Jesus says, "Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." So too, the Holy Spirit gives us light to show to all we encounter.

So when you think of Christian Living, don't fall into the trap of believing it's just about restrictions and sacrifices. Don't look at self-control as legalism and duty. We're all training for a greater goal. We're all working on a relationship with our Trainer to become the best Christians we can be. And the manifestation of that training is a mature relationship with Christ, and all the power of Christ's name that it carries.