Memorize by Heart, Live by It -Titus 1: 1-4-

Titus 1

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

How are you doing with this week's memory verses? I must admit that for me it has not been easy. Normally the opening and greeting in the epistles are somehow easy to memorize; but this one has been tougher.

I have "broken" this set of verses in a manner that will help me understand with more clarity what the apostle is saying and at the same time memorize with ease:

Paul was two things: 

First of all: a servant of God

Second: and apostle of Jesus Christ


For what reason: 

1. For the sake of the faith of God's elect (and here, as I have been repeating these words slowly as to eat them them without chocking, I see the doctrine of Divine Election. It is so clear. Faith belongs to those who have been elected by God!)

2. Their knowledge of the truth [which accords with godliness]

Now see this beauty, the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the Truth (yes, we must have knowledge of the truth, we must study the Word) accord with godliness. They go hand in hand with godliness, not with arrogance and a prideful heart, but with godliness.  When you meditate on these words, one by one, you see this, and let me share with you that the Holy Spirit has convicted me in some areas of my life in which I have professed to have the faith, and I certainly have the knowledge but clearly lack godliness.

The saints can persevere in godliness because of the hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began. Do you see this? WOW! I get all excited when I read these words. We are not hopeless, we don't desperately mourn the loss of those whom we love and have gone to be with the Lord, because of this hope. We can live like many saints have lived before us, without fearing death, because of this hope. We have hope of eternal life. God's elect have hope in the eternal life He has promised. And He never lies.

He never lies.


He never lies.

Now verse 3 tells us the incredible way God has chosen to make known his Word, and that is through the preaching of it. I pray God will give me a heart that burns within in me to preach the gospel to those who have not heard it. I fear that sometimes I am more worried to have a sound doctrine -and defend it- than to reach for those who have not heard the gospel yet.


And the closing line in these verses: 

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. 

Grace: what makes this word so special is that there is another one on the other side: guilty. We can not be amazed by God's grace if it were not because He has taken away all guilt and sin from us.

Peace: True peace is only found when Grace has met us. First comes grace, then peace, in that order.

"Grace began in eternity, and it extends to eternity. we don not have to worry about exhausting the supply of God's mercy because of the duration of grace: forever."         Bryan Chapell

Under His sun and by His grace,