Why Are We Saved?

Titus 2:14 ESV (He) gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Why are we saved?

Do we truly understand the purpose behind God's saving us? Or do we sometimes feel like God saved us for our own sakes?

How we answer that question is severely important. Paul reminds Titus why we were saved.

If we believe that we are saved for our own sakes then God becomes a means to our ultimate ends. That He saved us so we could have that life we always dreamed of and then go to heaven when we die.

This is not what the Gospel teaches us. This is not what the Old Testament teaches us either. One of our favorite Psalms contains a phrase to help us understand the theme of redemption.

Psalms 23:3 "He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

In Titus, as he usually does, Paul backs up the teachings of the Old Testament through the new covenant perspective.

We are not saved for our own sakes.

First: we are saved to be his possession. That means that we belong to God not the other way around.

Our bodies belong to God, our minds belong to God, our families belong to God, our jobs belong to God, our money belongs to God, our everything belongs to God.  

True faith is letting God have his way with all that we think we own.

Second: We are saved do good works. But notice that Paul goes beyond just doing good works. We are saved to be zealous to do good works. Being zealous about good works goes far beyond religious duty. 

We don't just go to the motions because doing good the right thing to do. No we do good because we are fired up about doing it. God has saved us and changed our hearts.

I don't want my salvation to stop at just getting to heaven. I want my heart be changed. I want to be zealous for good works.

That's what I was saved for.


PRAYER:
Father, change my heart. I need to receive you Lord Jesus and the passion that you had to do the will of the one who sent you is the passion that I want. I ask you to renew me, renew my mind and my heart and make me zealous to do good works for your name's sake. In Jesus' name amen.

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