When having conversations regarding a person’s lifestyle  I have encountered one of these responses  which leads me to wonder— has this person really accepted the Word of God as His final and absolute standard? Here is what I have heard both recently and in the past when I asked why a person chooses to do thus and so:  (a) I do not care, (b) I like what I am doing, or  (c) God will understand.   How do you continue to dialog with someone who has one or all three of these components in their understanding?

Paul left Titus on Crete to deal with new believers and to teach them how to live amongst the Cretans who by their own words are “liars, evil and lazy.” Our world today reflects much the same in attitude and behavior.  But, as believers are we not called to live and behave differently?  I think the answer is yes.  When we fail to live differently we fail to realize the price of the precious “grace of God which has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.”  This precious grace instructs us in three areas:

First we are to deny ungodliness…that is to deny that which is anathema to God’s view and standards.  When we deny the absolute standard are we also in denial about how God views our lifestyle?

Secondly we are to live righteously and godly…that is to live and model the righteous life through the power of the Holy Spirit, which must be an ever present attitude and behavior. Does my life model Christ’s?

Thirdly we are to be looking for the return of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus at any moment in time.

When we fail in any or all of these three things Paul emphasized we also fail to realize the depth of this verse: Heb 10:31 “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Our life and our words reveal our true understanding and love for the sacrificial grace of God that has been bestowed upon our lives. We therefore must be deny self, live righteously, look for the return of our Messiah.

So here are some questions to consider: How am I doing and how are you doing? Are we really ready to meet the Lord in the air and to stand before Him? When He asks why we responded in one of those three ways (that is I didn’t care what your Word said, I liked what I was doing and was not willing to change, or surely  you understood, right God?) what will our response be? Are we, am I living differently?