In recent visits I encouraged you to make sure you have received God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. If you've taken that gift by faith for yourself then God’s second promise that we looked at earlier in our study of the book of Titus is something for you to look forward to.
The second promise is about our “blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
As completely as God fulfilled His promise of the first coming of Jesus Christ, we can trust Him to fulfill His promise of our blessed hope – the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. Since in Jesus Christ’s first coming “he gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14), what kind of people ought we to be as we wait for our blessed hope?
Paul answers this in Titus 2:12: our salvation “teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” We should live this way so that “no one will malign the word of God” (Titus 2:5) and “that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us” (Titus 2:8).
Our blessed hope should motivate us to prepare for that day by living faithfully for God. It should settle us and comfort us when things aren’t going the way we would like to see them go. It should strengthen us when we are facing difficult challenges or opportunities.
