The Kindness of God
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared”
Titus 3:4 ESV
Dear Reader, We have the blessed hope of knowing that God uses His word, through the work of the Holy Spirit, to draw many to salvation. The only true hope a person has is the effectual call from God when He begins to draw him to new life. “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
You see “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
The greatest miracle anyone will ever witness is when the Holy Spirit awakens the dead heart of the person Whom He is saving, allowing them to believe and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
The Bible teaches us, “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” The worldly man sets his mind on the things of this world and how he might prosper. In this life, he never makes it his principal desire to please God and attain everlasting glory. He frequently fulfills religious obligations, striving to avoid shameful sins, but his heart is far from God. His prideful tendencies indicate that he is only self-serving and does not desire true holiness. He, like Demas of old, is in love with the present world and clings solely to earthly means for self-gratification.
But on the contrary, the one who is being saved sets their affections upon holiness and how they might please the Lord. God has revealed to him the state of his sinful heart, and he recognizes that without a savior he is lost. He acknowledges that God’s law has been broken, both internally and externally, and his conscience testifies to it. Therefore, he clings to the message of hope that is only found in the sin bearer, Jesus Christ. He throws himself at the foot of the cross, placing his faith and dependence completely upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He cries out as Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” With groans too deep for words, he eagerly waits for the fullness of his adoption, which is the redemption of his body. Nothing in this world is so valuable to him that he cannot give it up for God’s glory. Although not perfectly, he presses on to lay hold of that for which he was also laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Concerning this, read what Paul said to Titus, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”