“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12). 

God has dispensed from Heaven an abundance of His grace. Where sin and spiritual blindness abounded, only what one had grown accustomed to was known. Grace came to teach us that our old nature must be denied. How could one ever be freed from what he once defended because it defined him? It is the grace that has appeared in order to show us that a new life was possible. When it came on the scene, it opened our eyes to know that heaven’s order should become earth’s greatest dream. The slave can at least see freedom in order for freedom to be desired. That desire for something beyond our current patterns of living is responded to and then we are empowered to aim higher, above the level of ungodly and worldly lusts. Each day we will embrace all the more God’s standard of righteousness thus rising above our own. It is the grace that has appeared that produces the salvation that we so desperately need. 

We see that life in Jesus Christ. He modeled perfect humanity before us teaching us what it really means to be human. Then He shows us that grace is not cheap. He paid the penalty for our sin with His life. It was not cheap grace but very costly for it cost the life of our Lord and Savior. The entrance of the grace of God as a gift to us appeared through the person of Jesus Christ over two thousand years in order to provide the way to salvation. First the question was raised by humanity in relation to his lost condition. The Law made us aware that a need remained unmet because God’s demand was not clearly known. Now that we know what the Lord requires and our inadequacy in fulfilling those requirements, we now have the mind to look beyond ourselves. What the world so desperately needed has appeared to all men. Salvation has come through the One who leads us to the place and the provision of God. In this new place we have a love for the truth which empowers us to resist the passions working against our relationship with God. Even if we are tempted by the devil we love Jesus Christ more than whatever evil alternatives may be offered. In contrast to what we would by our old nature succumb to, we live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. As we look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, we maintain our focus and do not lose hope. Not only will we be saved spiritually, but our souls and bodies will ultimately be redeemed.