Paul reminded Titus that the grace of God teaches us to wait “for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Tit 2:13). The gospel of grace also cleanses our thoughts of the worldly spirit. The glory of heaven as our destination becomes clearer to us.

Grace also teaches unbelievers

Everyone has once been in childhood faith, but deceived by the enemy of souls, some have lost their faith. According to the Bible, God draws man to Him through His goodness (Rom 2:4). An unbeliever may feel God speaking to him or her through nature, fates in life, or his or her conscience. However, these do not bring peace and salvation to that person unless he or she finds the kingdom of God and living faith.

We have been given the responsible task of being letters from Christ in this world (2 Cor 3:3). It is not all the same how we take care of this task. The love of Christ and His example obligate us to approach an unbelieving person from below, with love. The consciences of many enemies have been awakened when in return for their anger they have experienced the love of God in the believers.

On the other hand, it is possible to misunderstand the loving approach to unbelievers. Many spiritualities have forgotten truth, which goes hand in hand with grace (Jn 1:14; Tit 1:2). Does not love obligate us to warn our neighbor about the dangers connected to living a life that is against God’s will? Treating an unbelieving person decently does not mean we should approve of his or her wrong way of life or false doctrine. True love means we try to find words and actions that lead him or her away from sin and unbelief.

The message of the kingdom of God will never be acceptable to everyone, but there are still people with an awakened conscience. We can freely speak about things as we experience and believe them (Rom 1:16; 1 Pet 3:15).

Righteousness by the grace of God

It is relieving to remember that we are acceptable to God only by grace. The way to heaven will not open on the basis of our own deeds. Justification means that, by faith, the accused one is liberated by the grace of God, without his or her own merit (Rom 3:23–26). Jesus suffered our judgement on our behalf; He came down to earth to serve others and to give His life on everyone’s behalf.

The child of God has been freed from the bonds of sin by merit of the atonement work of Jesus. This freedom is not, however, freedom to commit sin. When apostle Paul proclaimed the grace of God, he also reminded the Romans that a believer does not want to live in sin (Rom 5:20–6:2). Being weak we indeed fall, but we then want to make amends for having fallen. May we remember the Lord’s words to the apostle: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).

Text: Ilari Kinnunen
Source: Ajankohtaista 2010, Erilaisina mutta samanarvoisina
Translation: KK

Julkaistu englanninkielisessä numerossa 11.5.2016