What The Bible Says I Am….

Titus 3:3-8

Our opinion of our self can vary wildly from ecstatic self-obsession to confidence- lacking shame. A person looks and listens to what society expects, or the measuring stick of modern culture, and ends up feeling guilty, left out, or perhaps underappreciated. Maybe we’ve looked and listened for too long to what a perverse world says, and not taken seriously what God says about who we really are. Shouldn’t we be more con- cerned with what our Designer and Creator says than the tilted perspective of our agenda-driven fellows?

First there’s us before Jesus. We are lost and separated from God by our own rebellion. In writing to Titus, the apostle Paul describes us as “foolish…disobedient, deceived, en- slaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hat- ing one another (v. 3).” Not a very pretty picture. Thank God that in His grace and love, He willingly gave His Son Jesus as the “satisfying sacrifice” for our sins (1 John 4:9, 10).

Then there’s us after we meet Jesus. Saved, Paul underscores, not on the basis of deeds which WE have done in righteousness, “but according to His mercy, by the wash- ing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,  whom He poured out upon us rich- ly through Jesus Christ our Savior…(vs. 5, 6).” This salvation carries the power to grow us through a lifetime of learning about and serving our Heavenly Father. We are gradu- ally, incrementally changed into the image of our Savior by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us and the Word which gives us wisdom unto ultimate salvation (2 Corinthians 3:17, 18; 5:17-21; 2 Timothy 3:14-17).

Don’t let the world define you. Know yourself as God reveals you to be in scripture. Re- mind yourself how blessed you are to stand in relationship with God through Christ. Be a light showing others the way to that same salvation.