Titus 2:11-14. 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Every true Christian wants to be growing in Christ. They want to be sanctified. They want their spiritual condition to change and improve. This is probably why you’re reading this right now. You want to know how you can be more like Jesus. And that’s awesome.
But the great error that almost every Christian makes at some point in their life (or all the time) is to focus on their progress rather than on their position. Constantly checking their present “sanctification level” against some standard (God’s rules, Christian principles, other Christians, Jesus himself) instead of constantly beholding their past justification and their future glorification.
This is not to say that our sanctification is not important. In fact, Titus 2:11-14 follows a list of characteristics that should be present in a growing sanctified body of believers (see 2:1-10) – love, purity, integrity, respect, encouragement. But when Paul explains how to get the church to this condition, when he explains how Jesus (grace appearing) sanctifies us, where does he turn our attention? Not to ourselves and our “spiritual progress.” He points our hearts to our glorification – waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ – and our justification – who gave himself for us to redeem us.
Christian, this is important, if you want to grow in Christ then you must take your eyes off of yourself and place them firmly on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. You must stop scoring your own spiritual progress, and receive his perfect score instead. You must stop pleading with God for victory, peace, and blessing, and start believing that, in Christ, you already have all of these in abundance. You need to stop “dying daily to sin,” and, rather, start counting yourself forever dead to sin in Christ (no matter how much you sin today). You need to stop waiting for your situation or your behavior to get better, and start waiting for your blessed hope. Your only hope. You need to stop trying harder and harder to “please God,” and start being trained for godliness by grace.
Show me a discouraged Christian and I’ll show you a Christian that is focused on their condition, rather than on their position. I’ll show you a Christian that is self-managing their sanctification, rather than resting in their justification. I’ll show you a Christian that is waiting for growth, rather than waiting for glory.
We all want to change. We all want to grow spiritually. We all want to be transformed into Christ-likeness. And that’s obviously a good thing. But what we all struggle to understand is the HOW. And the truth is you’ll never grow in Christ by trying to grow in Christ. You’ll only grow in Christ by trusting Christ in you. Trusting his salvation. His redemption of your life. His purifying of your heart. His possession of your soul.
“To live is Christ means that the more we look at his appearing, the more we wait for his glorious return, the more we place our faith in his life rather than our own life, the more we will be transformed into his likeness. Trained up in his godliness. Zealous for his good works. For now we know that we ARE his good work.
You
Are you focusing more on your progress or on your position in Christ?
You in Christ
Can you explain your justification and glorification in Christ?
Christ in you
How can you live from what Christ has done, rather than from what you can do?
***
Playlist: Trained By Grace.
Click Here to this playlist on Spotify!
***
To see today’s post from the TLIC Family blog –> Click Here
To Live is Christ 