Ready:
“This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works.” – Titus 3:8
Set:
In sports you face situations in which you have to decide whether to do the right thing even if it doesn’t seem immediately advantageous. For example, will you as a coach abide by the rules for how much summer contact you’re allowed with players—even when other coaches don’t stick to these rules? Or as an athlete, will you honor the boundaries for academic integrity—even when other athletes regularly get “assistance” with their schoolwork that borders on cheating?
What determines your actions in situations like these? For followers of Christ, the Spirit is working in us to mature us so that we will increasingly be characterized by “the fruit of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5:22-23. One of these qualities is “goodness.” Goodness can have the sense of “kindness and generosity.” There’s another dimension of goodness, however, that likely is what Galatians 5 has in mind. Goodness is “moral excellence, virtue, and uprightness.” Goodness is doing what is right even when it doesn’t seem advantageous.
At the beginning of Titus 3, Paul reminds us of the Gospel: the good news that Jesus saves us from what we deserve for our sin, cleansing us and giving us new life. Paul then points to what a heartfelt response to the Gospel involves (v. 8): “so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works.” While this includes acts of kindness and generosity, “good works” also means choosing moral excellence and uprightness—even when those around us are not.
We grow in goodness when our identity in Christ guides us. As “those who have believed God,” Jesus takes our sin and gives us His righteousness. Christ’s perfect goodness defines who we are before God. Through the Spirit’s enabling, we can now increasingly live out what’s true of our identity in Christ. Each time we need to decide whether we’ll do what is morally excellent and right, let our identity in Christ guide us—not what other people are doing or what seems advantageous.
This compels us to “be careful to devote [ourselves] to good works.” To be devoted to something is to discipline ourselves to repeatedly practice it. We resolve, “By God’s grace and power, I’m going to choose goodness in every situation, even when it’s hard.”
Out of gratitude for God’s goodness to you through Christ, daily pursue the habit of doing what you know God says is right—even if others are not or it doesn’t seem immediately advantageous.
Go:
In what current situations are you facing a decision about whether you will pursue goodness or do what seems advantageous?
How does knowing your identity in Christ help you choose goodness?
Workout:
Overtime:
“Lord, I praise You because You are good. I praise You because You always do what is right and excellent. Through Your Spirit’s work in me, I pray that I would choose to act with goodness that reflects You in every situation. Amen.”