For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. Titus 3:3
A legend is told of a woman who lived in a little village near Nazareth some two thousand years ago. This woman – we’ll call her Sari – was born with a disease that left her legs weak and deformed. She could never learn to walk. Her father had a rug weaving business, and Sari learned how to weave, but she was unable to do much else. She grew up bitter about her physical handicap, and complained loudly every day. Because of her nasty disposition, her relatives barely tolerated her, and she had no friends. She was often heard railing against God for allowing her to be so deformed, railing against the world for being so unkind and unfriendly to her, and even against her father’s business for being such an unfriendly place to work. One day, a man named Jesus came to her little village, stirring up great excitement, because He was said to be a great Healer come from God. Unable to walk, Sari sat at her work while her fellow workers rushed out to meet the Healer. But the Healer turned aside from the main street and entered the rug shop where Sari was working. After a brief period, He emerged and continued on his way. Sari’s fellow workers and relatives returned to the shop, where they found her still seated at her work station, still with her deformed and helpless legs, but with a bright smile and a cheerful greeting. In the days and years that followed, she displayed a joyful spirit, praising God for His goodness to her, and appreciating her family and companions, and thankful for her wonderful job in the shop. The Healer had touched that part of her that was in greater need of healing than her legs. And He has worked as great a miracle within each of us.
Our text is a catalogue of our attributes in our unsaved days. It’s not a pretty list and we are ashamed of it. But we had no choice; that was the demonstration of what was in our hearts. We knew and could do no better. But our God did not leave us in that pitiful condition. He entered our experience with the Gospel, bringing us by His goodness to the place of repentance, and from there to faith in His Son. Our salvation has lifted us from the drudgery and disappointment, the bitterness and hatefulness, the pessimism and animosity, into the glorious appreciation of the love of God. Now we are able to lift our hearts and voices in praise. Now we are able to express the love of God to others, and dispense that love in deeds of kindness and generosity. We have received the ability to change. How well have we exercised that ability in real change in our lives?
Sadly, there are some Christians who either fail to give up some of the attributes listed in our text, or they slip back into them. In many ways, they are little different from before they were saved. But it need not be that way. Before salvation, people are often puzzled as to how they could ever live as a Christian if they should be saved. And their confusion is no wonder, because they know nothing about the enabling power of the Holy Spirit Who dwells within each believer. They know nothing of His work to bring every child of God into conformity with the person of Christ. The secret for each of us to be the Christian that our Lord desires of us is to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in us.
It does us good sometimes to consider what we once were, that we might appreciate how wonderfully our Saviour has changed us. – Jim MacIntosh