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"He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works."
(Titus 2:14, CSB)
All right... to put all of the memorization verses down in one giant group of letters... here it is:
F T G O G H A, B S F A P, I U T D G A W L A T L I A S, R, A G W I T P A, W W W F T B H, T A O F T G O O G G A S, J C. H G H F U T R U F A L A T C F H A P F H O P, E T D G W.
Maybe this other version will help you:
11 - F T G O G H A, B S F A P,
12 - I U T D G A W L A T L I A S, R, A G W I T P A,
13 - W W W F T B H, T A O F T G O O G G A S, J C.
14 - H G H F U T R U F A L A T C F H A P F H O P, E T D G W.
Verse 14 is the reason I wanted to memorize this passage in the first place! Today, let's break this verse down a few words at a time:
He gave Himself for us.
How does it hit you that Jesus Christ gave Himself for us? Or to make it more personal, how does it hit you that Jesus Chirst gave Himself for you? When I think about this part of the verse, I think of Jesus being worshipped in Heaven 24/7 and Him leaving that position of power, authority, and praise to come to this earth. When He came to this earth, He assumed the position of lowly, humble, and gentle. He lived a perfect life in the 1st century and chose to submit Himself to torture and death on a cross. Why did Jesus put the glory and praise aside? Why did Jesus put on flesh and die a death we deserved to die and He did not? The next part of the verse tells us why, but don't glance over the truth that Jesus gave Himself for us, for you!
To redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a people for His own possession.
When Jesus gave Himself for us, He rescued us from the effects of lawlessness. Lawlessness, representing sin, was what broke mankind's relationship with God. Jesus defeated sin and its consequences when He gave Himself for us, breaking the old chains that used to hinder us. Jesus also purified a people for Himself. God has always had a special people, and followers of Jesus are those special people that belong to God. Jesus doesn't just redeem us and then instantly zip us up into Heaven. Jesus redeems us and cleanses us so we can be His people and show what He is like to a world that does not know Him!
Eager to do good works.
Finally, as followers of Jesus, we are to do good works. We have been redeemed and purified so that we can do good works. These good works are to amplify and show how great our God is. We have a mission while we are still on earth, and this mission is completing the good works that God has in store for us while we are still here.
I hope you have enjoyed looking at Titus 2:11-14 this week. I encourage you to memorize this passage because it is so theologically rich but also so practical in nature!
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