Choosing the better deal

 This week's verses are Titus 2:11-13:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 The season of Advent has begun this week. It's a time to think about Jesus and what we have gained by his appearance in the world. Sometimes we can focus too much on tearing open the doors that keep us from chocolate, and miss the greater treasure that's right in front of us, both right now and in the age to come.

Paul is writing this letter to his colleague Titus, who is a missionary to the island of Crete, in the Mediterranean. Poor guy. Most of it is advice on how to shape a Christian community and participate in life inside and outside of that community. But these verses tell us how we get there, and why we might feel the effort is worth it to make the difficult choices.

The grace of God has appeared, because Jesus has appeared. It gives us all the chance to take back the bad things we've done in the eyes of God and try something different without eternal condemnation. Imagine finding a cheat code for the greatest game ever that gives you unlimited lives. If you do the wrong thing, you can try a different strategy without the whole game ending. Salvation is that cheat code.

Salvation, the ability to avoid being a permanent loser, is available to all people, thanks to Jesus. Think about what that means. Is there anything more amazing than having access to the full span of eternity, to keep discovering new things even past death? To be favored by God, even if we did all the wrong things? Given an offer like that, would you choose to go back to the old way where one mistake could ruin things for you forever?

This salvation available to us trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live mindfully, for a purpose. Because which system do you want to live under? The world where anything you want you have to get right now, before you die, where one wrong move gets you banned permanently and condemned with no appeal? Or the one where nobody's mistakes are insurmountable, where we have time to let others in line before us, and nothing we do will end the love of the most significant other we will ever have? I don't see how there's even a choice!

But sometimes we forget about the two deals available to us, and we go back to the old way. Maybe we see on social media that someone has done something that society says is unforgivable and we let that condemnation well up on our hearts. Maybe our colleagues or relatives say something that offends us and we think maybe it's easier to live the rest of our lives without talking to them, as if we were God and they were the only sinners we decided were worthy of our eternal hellfire.

Or maybe we see something we want, and even though we know we can't afford the distraction, we divert ourselves into that thing, that hobby, that sport, that sin, instead of keeping our eyes on the big picture. We give up the labor of self discipline and let the flesh call the shots, and now the time, money, or healthy physical capacity that we might have spent on something eternally worthwhile is burnt up for nothing.

But we're being trained by the grace of God. We see the difference in how our life is when we follow the eternal system based on grace, versus when we follow the instant-gratification system based on clawing our way to the top like animals and being torn apart at our first show of weakness.

And so I'd challenge you this Advent to pay attention to which path you're on. Which deal are you choosing? Eternal salvation or irrevocable damnation? I hope you choose the better deal, and that you can see how much we have to be thankful for in this season.