Title in NIV: Titus exhorted to teach redemption through Jesus Christ.
- redeem-to free or rescue another
- redemption- the act of freeing or rescuing another
- grace- the undeserved love and salvation God freely gives
- justify- to free from guilt and blame by faith in redemption
*Who redeems us? Jesus Christ redeemed us by dying on the cross.
*How did Jesus redeem us? 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us...". 1 Peter 2:22 says, "He committed no sin...", "He himself bore our sins...",vs.24. Jesus redeemed/rescued us by taking on all our sin and dying, so that payment for sin was made once and for all.
* Why did he redeem us? So that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. We are his creation. He loves us. He wants to.
*What does redemption do for us? If we have faith in redemption, it justifies us before God. To say is another way, if we have faith that Jesus rescued and freed us from sin, it sets us free from guilt and blame that we have when we sin. We can be confident in knowing our sins are covered.
This is February. Do you still have a Christmas present unopened on a shelf that you look at everyday? The bow is still perfect and it is shiny red and gold. No! You opened them all, right? Sometimes I think we leave God on the shelf. We won't allow him to rescue us from our situations because we would have to mess up the perfect bow and tear the shiny paper of our own life. We don't realize that what is in the box, what God has to offer, is much better than the pretty unopened box. We may have to mess up the bow: forgive someone. We may have to tear the paper: stop a sin that gives us pleasure. We may have to open the box: give God access to our heart. We may have to take out the gift: learn knowledge of God's word and his will for our lives. We may have to use the gift: apply the knowledge to our life. We may even get to enjoy the gift: blessings because we obey.
You cannot be blessed or be a blessing to others if you do not first deal with sin in your own life, allow God to redeem/rescue you from sin, find out what God wants you to do, and do it!! We may not even know where to start. Start by reading the Word. God will speak to you and make it known to you what his will is for you. I believe God wants the yucky stuff out of our life first so we can show Him to others as a good God who "don't make no junk." (I had to use that from a plaque I saw.)
We have to understand, "In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."(Eph 1:7-8) Remember, grace is the undeserved love and salvation God gives. In verse 12, it says "[Grace] teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives...".
Dear one, accept that God wants to redeem you through Jesus Christ. Accept the grace he wants to lavish on you. He wants to purify you for his very own. It may hurt a little but, just like a butterfly, it did not start out as a butterfly. It had to transform. The end result is exquisite. Allow, God to transform you and see what beauty can come out of your life.
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