Titus 2:11-14 English Standard Version
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 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.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Today is another day that the Lord hath made and like everyday which the Lord hath made, we who are the Children of God are called to rejoice and thank God.
By His hands, The Lord creates, the Lord God alone makes every single day and gifts it back to us with the sunrise – everyday is best day to give God our thanks.
So, today is another day to celebrate with thanks all of the days which God gifts.
Yet, sometimes we’ll have the wrong expectations for celebrations of holidays.
We commonly imagine a festive scene filled with family, warmth, and laughter.
On this Thanksgiving day, the feast table is set and photo-ready – friends and family will gather together, reminisce and smile over plates of delicious food.
For others, our Thanksgiving holidays do not always look like this, though. Broken families, loss of loved ones, or illness can all mar the holiday cheer.
The disappointment increases if you spend time scrolling through social media and see all of those loving gatherings that look vastly different from your own.
At these times, ideas of thanking – well, God, it can be difficult to feel thankful.
The good news – and yes, there is always good news to be had – is that gratitude is acceptable and permissible not only for the pleasant, plentiful times in life.
Expressing gratitude to the Lord is also acceptable, permissible and important in times when life seems to make less sense and we suffer and experience loss.
We may struggle to give our thanks when life is hard, but by leaning into God and His Word, we can find reasons to be thankful for His goodness and love.
Seasons of hardship and pain provide us with opportunities to notice the profound and small, smaller imperceptible ways that God shows His love.
Thanks be to God for the Grace which Transforms
Titus 2:11-14 GOD’S WORD Translation
11 After all, God’s saving kindness [a] has appeared for the benefit of all people. 12 It trains us to avoid ungodly lives filled with worldly desires so that we can live self-controlled, moral, and godly lives in this present world. 13 At the same time we can expect what we hope for—the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14 He gave himself for us to set us free from every sin and to cleanse us so that we can be his special people who are enthusiastic about doing good things.
I have learned a valuable lesson from Jesus’ selfless example at Calvary that is we are to give all our thanks for that moment, live our lives from the inside out.
When Paul wrote to Titus, he didn’t provide him with a mere manual for how to teach people to give thanks to God, live properly in their various roles in society.
The Pastoral letter of Titus does contain numerous commands for just how us Christians are to live—good days and bad, and that is why, if we are not careful, we can easily read it as a moralistic emotionless step by step how-to live book.
Indeed, when reading God’s word as a whole it is possible to slip into reading it as a list of commands we are to keep in order to gain or maintain God’s favor.
We need reminding, again and again, that thanks be to God, all the Scriptures, including this letter of Paul’s, show us the grace of God, and then they show those who have understood the grace of God how to live from the inside out.
The Bible’s story is the story of God, who created humans and put them in His company in the Garden of Eden-then years upon years of celebrating humanity.
They were privileged to enjoy His presence and everything He had made.
But they rebelled against God, stopped thanking God for His gifts and we too, following those ancestors, have rejected His rule, have adopted a skewed view of the world, and don’t seek after Him to give Him all of the thanks He deserves.
Because of our thankless sinful nature, we live life wrong side up – upside down.
But when we give God all of the thanks that He absolutely deserves, we believe in the fullness and richness of Christ, our upside-down lives are then rectified.
We become less prone to stumbling over ourselves, less prone to grumbling to begin to stand the right way up, we are put back together by the power of Jesus.
Our hearts and souls are then transformed and we are then to live out our lives from the inside out, so that what God has accomplished in us by His grace is the driving force for what He is now going to accomplish through us for His glory.
Paul tells us “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation.” (Titus 2:11)
In Titus 3:7, he reminds those of us who have trusted in Christ that we have been “justified by his grace,” becoming “heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
And in Titus 3:8, Paul teaches that these gospel truths are trustworthy things that must be insisted on, “so that those who have believed in God may be careful [give thanks to God] and to devote themselves to good works” (emphasis added).
This progression is absolutely crucial to grasp.
First and foremost – Give ALL Thanks to God for the gift of His Son Jesus Christ!
It’s not that we are to devote ourselves to doing good works so that we might be accepted by God; it is that because we have believed in God, gave all thanks to God every single day and are accepted through the person and work of His Son, then in total gratitude for His Son, we all devote ourselves to doing good works.
Attitudes of Gratitude, good works, flow from His grace, inspired by that grace.
The grace of God is what trains us to give thanks and live for the God of grace.
Do you desire to be distinct from the world?
Do you hope to live a life worthy of God—one that “Thanks Him” in all you do?
That is a mark of His grace at work in you.
Remember that what you do is never what saves you; in our Savior Christ, His grace appeared, and all His lifeblood was poured out on you – Thank You God!
This Thanksgiving day which God made for us, focus not on what you are to do for God but on what He has done to transform you by His grace – As you do so, you will find your heart and mind trained to live in the way that pleases Him.
Four Ways to Being .01% Thankful When Life Is Hard
1. Remember the Gift of Salvation
One way to be thankful when life is challenging is to remember what Jesus did for you. There was a moment in your past when you placed faith in Christ.
Before that time, you were dead in sin and separated from the Lord (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 1:21).
No number of good deeds or participation in religion could change your condition (Isaiah 64:6; Ephesians 2:8-9).
Then you learned about Jesus’ death and resurrection, and everything changed.
You trusted Him to save you and received forgiveness for your sins and a new life (Ephesians 1:7; 2:4-5, 8-10).
Though you were completely lost, Jesus found you – He made you His own.
Reminding ourselves of the awesome truth of the gospel can give us hope when everything around us is hard.
We think about those days where we were without Christ and begin to praise Him for all that He has done in saving us and conforming us to His likeness.
Yes, life is difficult in a broken world, and we still have to live in that broken world with broken lives but we have a living Savior who loves and cares for us.
Nothing can separate us from Him (Romans 8:38-39 NLT).
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For those who are experiencing challenging times this Thanksgiving, know that you still have reason to praise the Lord – always permission, to thank the Lord!
Like Habakkuk who rejoiced in the Lord despite a time of hardship and need, we also can say,
“I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:18).
Even if everything else in life seems to be falling away into dark and hopeless, we can always give an energetic thanks to God for the salvation Jesus gave us.
2. Get Back to the Basics
In addition to thanking the Lord for salvation, we can also give thanks for the necessities of life He provides.
Scripture tells us “If we have enough food and clothing, let us be content” (1 Timothy 6:8, NLT).
In context, this verse speaks to the need for contentment instead of greedily grasping for material wealth.
However, we can apply this verse to be thankful for the provision God provides.
Lots of us may not have great wealth, or any wealth of the world but we do have food, clothing, and shelter – for that reason, we can still give our thanks to God.
Our thanks and gratitude for these necessities should increase when, by the grace of God, we consider people locally and globally who face severe poverty.
For them, food is scarce, and obtaining other necessities is a daily challenge.
These difficulties have only increased because of recent events, such as the Global Food Crisis, the economy and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We do not have to look far to see the negative effects.
For example, NPR provided the findings of a recent study done by the U. S. Department of Agriculture which states that “44.2 million people lived in households that had difficulty getting enough food to feed everyone in 2022.”
That is a high number of people with food insecurity.
Add that to the countless millions upon millions of others around the world, and we can easily see why we should all give thanks for necessities like food.
Although I am not trying to invalidate the feelings of those who are suffering this Thanksgiving, I think reminding ourselves of the everyday provision of food, water, clothing, and shelter is helpful because we can easily take these blessings for granted – and by God’s grace – we can move ourselves to help.
Philippians 2:1-4 New Living Translation
Have the Attitude of Christ
2 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
Seeking out the Kingdom of God, discovering, seeing the lack, suffering in the world can prayerfully compel us to practice gratitude for simple things in life.
3. Notice the Little Things
Another way to add to your gratitude list this Thanksgiving, and indeed all days which God has given us the Sunrise to enjoy – is to notice the little things in life.
Throughout Jesus’ teachings, He used ordinary things in life to expound on profound truths.
When discussing the Father’s love and care for people, Christ used the example of the simple beauty of the flowers in the fields and of the sparrows in the air.
The Lord sees the small sparrow fall from a tree and cares about the bird’s life (Matthew 10:29) -how comforting it is to know, then, that He loves and values us even more than the sparrow (Matthew 10:30-31).
In another instance, He talked about how the lilies adorn the grassy fields.
Even Solomon’s wealth and splendor cannot compare to God-created beauty (Matthew 6:28-29).
As Jesus said, “If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30).
Such seemingly unimportant, ordinary things can remind us of the Lord’s love.
Hardship can keep our attention laser focused only our immediate problems.
However, we can find comfort and encouragement in noticing the small graces in life — the foliage of a tree, the smell of a flower, the call of a bird and in the ordinary, we can yet find great beauty that points us to our Creator and Savior.
4. Thank God for His Presence
We can also give our thanks for the Lord’s constant presence in our lives. As believers, we have the promise that Jesus is with us always (Matthew 28:20).
He’ll never leave or forsake us, regardless of our circumstances (Hebrews 13:5).
There is nowhere we can go where God will not be with us (Psalm 139:7-10).
Although we may recognize this truth intellectually, we may have difficulty in seeking out the Kingdom of God and applying it – in challenging circumstances, the immutable truth that God is 100% with us can help us know we aren’t alone.
We may feel like no one cares or that we are alone in the difficulty, but the Lord is present -He understands everything about us, and cares about our suffering. (Psalm 107)
Therefore, we can offer thanksgiving to the Lord for His enduring presence.
He is the God who sees and never leaves.
God is with us, and that is reason to rejoice and give thanks.
Why Does repeating “Thanks be to God” Matter?
Darkness and pain may fill your days and you do not feel there is much to be thankful for.
Thanksgiving can exacerbate feelings of sadness as you see and hear about others who have enjoyable and festive gatherings with loved ones and friends.
These times can be difficult, but you can still find reasons to be grateful.
This is the day the Lord hath made, until death do us part and heaven and God we see, thank the Lord for the salvation He gave you, for the daily provision of grace, mercy and life, all the beauty in the ordinary, and His constant presence.
In so doing, you put into action the biblical command to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 136:1-9 GOD’S WORD Translation
136 Give thanks to the Lord because he is good,
because his mercy endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods
because his mercy endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords
because his mercy endures forever.
4 Give thanks to the only one who does miraculous things—
because his mercy endures forever.
5 to the one who made the heavens by his understanding—
because his mercy endures forever.
6 to the one who spread out the earth on the water—
because his mercy endures forever.
7 to the one who made the great lights—
because his mercy endures forever.
8 the sun to rule the day—
because his mercy endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to rule the night—
because his mercy endures forever.
23 He remembered us when we were humiliated—
because his mercy endures forever.
24 He snatched us from the grasp of our enemies—
because his mercy endures forever.
25 He gives food to every living creature—
because his mercy endures forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven
because his mercy endures forever.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 