Abiding in Christ

God’s grace not only saves us, but it also trains us. 

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people…” (Titus 2:11, ESV). What great news! Paul extolled God’s glorious grace, which saves us. End of story, right? No, that’s hardly the end of the story. Paul quickly added that this same grace is “…training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:12). 

Paul was describing here what it means to abide in Christ. In other words, God’s grace provides not only eternal life but abundant life now. The part we play by abiding in Christ leads to a blessed, godly, peaceful life. 

Paul didn’t stop there. He boldly instructed Titus, “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you” (Titus 2:15). Remember, Paul’s subject in this passage is grace. He was stating, in essence, “When grace is preached but it doesn’t train you to deny ungodliness, something is missing.” 

If we want to serve Jesus, we can’t avoid correction, whether it comes from God’s Word or from our respected friends. Yet we are also promised this about God’s corrective pruning: “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). 

His pruning is powerful, both in its pain and in its glorious fruit. Do you lack peace? Have you drifted from your source of life and been drawing from other sources? Ask God to take his pruning blade to your heart. He may cut and take away things that don’t belong. When he is finished, the glorious tree in your yard may appear to be no more than a stump; but what grows from that stump is fruit you never could have imagined and something you could not have produced on your own. 

God’s cutting and pruning ends up producing joy, all from the hand of the expert gardener who loves us.