Jump Start # 1048

Titus 3:4 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”

Paul reminds Titus of the wonderful and generous act of God upon mankind. God’s love led Him to save us. It was based upon His mercy. Our hearts ought to be filled with love and thankfulness to God for this alone. Without this, we could not have been saved.

Notice how Paul opens this passage, by the expression, “the kindness of God our Savior.” God is kind. God is good. We can forget that at times.

God is not sitting behind a cloud with a radar gun pointing at you, ready to nail you for every infraction you make. God is kind. God is not a mean grump that is determined to take away all the fun in your life by loading you down with heavy rules that just make you sigh. God is kind.

• God is kind even though there are hardships in your life.
• God is kind even though things do not always work out as you planned.
• God is kind even though you must journey through the valley of the shadow of death.
• God is kind even though there are periods of tears in your life.
• God is kind even though some of His people are not.

We can misunderstand the kindness of God. For some, if life is not filled with happiness every moment, then they question how can God be kind. For some, kindness of God means a free ride—no responsibilities, no obligations, nothing to do. Others define kindness as getting away with wrong things. Kindness, for them, would be looking the other way. These concepts are based upon worldly hearts that are selfish and not seeking the righteousness of God. The Lord is kind, yet, His will prevails. His will, as Jesus prayed, will be done, in Heaven and on earth.

How is God kind? He’s given you today, hasn’t He? Each day is a gift. He has blessed you. He has been there for you. He has answered your prayers. He has come into your life and shown you what you need to do. He gives food, health, life and hope. The greatest demonstration of God’s kindness, is found in this verse. God is so kind to forgive us. Just sentences before, Paul described what little angels we were: “we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” What a mess we were. How wrong we were. How God had every right to throw the book at us and to toss us out. His kindness led Him to extend mercy to a people not deserving of mercy. He saved us not because we go to church on Sunday, nor, because we are so cute and adorable, but rather because of His mercy and love. We became justified, or right, by His grace.

There is a hymn that begins, “God is so good…God is so good…He’s so good to me!” Yes, He is.

He is kind. This is why we can approach Him. This is why we can long to be with Him. This is why we can have a wonderful relationship with Him. He is good. He is so good to me. God is better to us, than we are to Him. Think about how many times we forget to talk to God. Think about how many times we are so busy that we put off reading His word. Think about how many times, in worship, we day dream, we sleep, we play around with our phones. Think about how many times we allow worry to dominate us. Think about how many times we flirt with sin. Think about how many times we forget to thank God for all that He does.

God is good to us. That ought to compel you to thank Him, praise Him, and follow Him.

The kindness of the Lord…

Roger