Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.
Salvation is by grace through faith, period. We can never add to God's salvific grace by our good works. For that matter, we also need to remember that we can never take away from God's salvific grace by our bad works. Forgiveness is of God's initiative. Reconciliation comes from God, who, in Christ, has broken down the wall of separation that our sins built between us and God. This is God's grace.
With that in mind, we read Titus 2:11-14 and recognize that God's grace trains us to walk away from ungodliness. It teaches us to live a godly life RIGHT NOW, not just in some heavenly future. We are compelled to do what is good as we live a life of purity. And we are compelled to this as we look at the coming glory of God in Christ. His coming is called "our blessed hope" (v. 13). And that hope leads us directly into a life of good works.
Whatever we have done, whatever we have not done, whatever we are now doing, whatever we are now not doing, all of it is to be understood in the context of Jesus' redemption. He moves us out of what is evil into what is good.
As we look to the blessed hope, Jesus, we recognize that there's a reason this Scripture passage is often associated with the beginning of the Christmas season. Especially as we celebrate the coming of our Lord, we take opportunity to dedicate ourselves to the kind of good that he does. We try to live like the reconciled people we are, like Jesus, who reconciles us to Himself. He has saved us for a purpose. We get to live in the good works he has prepared.
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