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Author: Martin Steinbereithner, from the Servants of the Word, an international, ecumenical brotherhood of men living single for the Lord.

In his letter to Titus, Paul writes: “For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, awaiting 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 iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.” (Titus 2:11-14 RSV)

Here Paul exhorts us to live our lives “awaiting our blessed hope” –but  this exhortation comes in a wider context. If you read the whole chapter, you will notice that Paul has exhorted Titus to encourage his flock to live godly and moral lives. Out of context, it almost seems as if Christianity is, after all, a moralizing and finger-wagging religion, full of dos and don’ts. But there is a reason for this: the grace of God has appeared, the incarnation has happened, and with it we receive the motivation, the encouragement and the power to become new creatures and live godly lives. We are exhorted to live sober lives in a context - waiting, hoping and believing in our Savior Jesus Christ, who not only appeared once, but who will come again! In other words, our Christian lives here and now have a context in God’s plan for humanity: we live after Christ’s first coming in the incarnation and before the Second Coming. The two comings of Christ are like the bookends of our lives and they give meaning and motivation to our daily struggles. Just like we need to see this passage in context, so we need to see our lives in a greater context: we live after the incarnation and before the Second Coming.

Ask yourself today: “Do I actually believe that Jesus will come again, and does that belief make a difference?”

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.