TITUS 3:8 - LET THE RIVER OF GOD'S SPIRIT FLOW

LET THE RIVER OF GOD’S SPIRT FLOW

By Susie Hale & Susan Slade, PJM

What had Paul just said? He had explained that we are saved by God’s grace and mercy, not by works. He had made it clear that our regeneration, our new birth, is a gift from God that we could never earn or deserve. It was unmerited favor from a loving, gracious Father, with the emphasis being on UNMERITED. Now he goes on to explain exactly where works do fit in because they are a part of our experience with Jesus. Good deeds are the result and the evidence of our salvation and subsequent sanctification (growing to be more like Christ). When we trusted Jesus, His Holy Spirit came into us to live in us. The Holy Spirit of God will generate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control within us that will overflow through us to others (Galatians 5:22-23 NASB).

Paul wrote that good deeds are intrinsically good but good for the community as well. When we do something that benefits someone other than ourselves, we bring glory to God. The impact our good deeds have on the family of God and on the community around us is secondary to the fact that we honor the Lord by obeying Him and doing good in His name. The Lord Jesus taught that ministering to others is, in fact, ministering to Him personally: “For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?” (Matthew 25:35-37).

However, working in the community gives us many opportunities to share the love of God and present the gospel message to people desperately in need of hearing it. True ministry is doing all those things Jesus listed in Matthew 25 in His name. Sometimes the most effective way to share Jesus is to meet a person’s true needs in His name. This opens the door to share what they need most of all—a life completely changed by the grace of God. Therefore, if you belong to Jesus, if you have trusted Him to redeem you from your sin, if His Holy Spirit lives in you, then LET THE RIVER FLOW (John 7:38). The Holy Spirit is not a pool meant to water only the one who holds Him. The Spirit is meant to flow through you and onto all who know you via your words and deeds. May His works through you be “valuable to the community.”