11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,12training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly,13while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. ~ Titus 2:11-13
The drive to work this morning was a bit frustrating for me, as I am one of the "offensive" drivers all other drivers are to drive "defensively" for. I get frustrated when people who are too afraid to drive correctly for the weather creep along at a "turtle pace," creating more of a road hazard than the weather conditions themselves. I often find myself wanting to "nudge" them along and often hear myself telling them to either drive right or stay off of the road (not that they can hear me with my windows up against the cold, snowy conditions). Yet, as I accelerate around a corner in the poorly-plowed roads and feel the back end of the vehicle wanting to slide a bit, I let off of the accelerator to make sure that I do not lose control and realize that perhaps the conditions are not as good as I think they may be and that those slower drivers may have better sense than I do.
We must, as Christians, train ourselves to go against the worldly passions and live our lives more in line with the self-control, uprightness and godliness that the Lord has requested we live our lives like. When we do this, we are better able to wait for the blessings and glory of God in our lives that have been promised to us. This is very hard to do in today's fast-paced world, but it is possible to do if we really put our minds to it. It just takes a lot of determination to learn to wait on God's timing in our lives instead of pushing ahead on our own for a faster outcome of what we would like to see happen.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for all You have given us and promise to give to those who are faithful to You. Help us to learn to wait on Your timing and not try to force our own timetables on what we want when we want it. Amen.
