For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11-13
“When the enemy has been cast out of your hearts, renounce him, not only in word, but in work; not only by the sound of the lips, but in every act of your life.”
Augustine of Hippo in The Lives of the Saints by Alan Butler, 1894 (Global Grey edition, 2019) 19 February reading.
On Sunday, Jenni and I walked the streets of Vienna with Gabriel and Majka Hakulín. We actually went to two churches with stunning architecture like the one pictured above.
In conversation we learned that Vienna was rated the #1 most livable city in the world. They listed the reasons: education, medical care, culture, etc. When we asked why, in such a wonderful city, the churches were nearly empty, this is how they replied. “People have it so good, they forget they need God.”
Rather than point fingers at Austrians, each of us should look into our own hearts and at our own actions.
After we cast the evil one out, we must renounce him and replace him with word and work that points people to God rather than look like everyone else in the world. Our lips and life must send a matching message about God’s grace. If we don’t do that, we too will forget we need God our churches will be stylish buildings instead of self-controlled, upright, and godly bodies.
About this time this message posts, I will have entered Ukraine on a mission to deliver help and hope.
What will you do this week, this month, this year to renounce your former ways and remember God with your lips and life and bring salvation to all?
I am actually writing my sermon for preaching in two churches next Sunday Kharkiv on this long bus ride to Lviv.