Titus 2 for Life

Helping ourselves and others transform the culture.

LIFEDATE -- SPRING 2008
Linda Bartlett

 Ahh…Sweet, Sweet Life!

It was to be a wonderful life… designed perfectly.  The star players were intimately created for their key roles – man for his and woman for hers.  The harmony between man, woman, and their Creator God would be forever enjoyed.  Ahhh… sweet, sweet life!

   There was a way that this sweet life could continue.  God shared that wisdom with the man, saying, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”  (Genesis 2:16)   Fair, and with the desire to lovingly protect, God gave to man the instruction for life and the warning away from death.  Later, the Creator lovingly shaped woman and brought her to man.  Ah, sweet life!  Now all was very good!  The man could cover his beloved “rib” with the Word of Life and pass its instructions and warnings on to their children and children’s children.  What a wonderful sweet, sweet life!

   Not so sweet, however, to one who watched from the darkness.  The very idea of life was sour grapes in the mouth of satan.  God’s love for the human beings – creatures made in His own image, no less – was despicable.  The very thought of more life -- more little creatures coming into a loving relationship with the Almighty God -- made satan nauseous.  So, into a perfect garden crept life’s one great enemy: death.  As a “thief,” satan was bound to “steal, kill, and destroy”.  (John 10:10)  He spied an opportunity and, ignoring the created order, slithered not to the defender, but the bearer of life.  He engaged the woman with a single question, “Did God really say . . . ?”  The woman, perhaps flattered to be placed in a role of leadership, sinned by speaking for God.  Turning to the man, she became his temptress. 

   Life, oh, sweet life!  Would man choose to guard it?  He had been given a Sword to protect the bearer of life and generations of life to come!  But, in failing to use this Sword – the very Word of God, man left his “rib” unprotected and generations of life at risk.     

   There, under a tree, was the first battle for life.  Man and woman, vulnerable without their Sword, were dealt a fatal blow.  Death had come to steal away the sweetness of life – but not life itself.

   To be sure, death stung… but, life continues.  Sweet?  No!  Far from it.  God told woman there would be pain in bringing new life into the world.  God told man that life would be hard. 

   Yet, life wins!  Generations of life prove it! 

   Over and over again, throughout the Old Testament, we read the words:  “Beget!”  “Descendants!”  “Families!”  “Genealogies!”  “Generations!”  These are words of life!  God’s hands have not stopped creating!  Each new human life bears witness of His amazing and faithful love – even for fallen, sinful creatures.  Life continues!  Why?

   Because . . .
   There was another tree… a tree not in a perfect garden teeming with sweet life, but in a sinful world on a hill named Golgotha where a Man was brought to die.  It was from that tree – a Cross – that Jesus Christ, both Man and Son of God, engaged the “thief” in one last battle for life – and won the victory!   He rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and promised to come again… this time to restore the sweet, sweet life.

   We await His coming.  And, while we wait, we live!  Words like “beget,” “descendents,” and “genealogies” prove that life goes on!  The enemy strikes at life; he steals, kills, and destroys, but he cannot stop the Creator’s hands from creating.  Life – in the womb or out -- is dealt constant blows by the enemy, but eyes focused on the promise of sweet life see victory.

   Satan desired woman to be the mother of death, but God inspired Adam to name his wife Eve which means: “mother of all the living.”  (Genesis 3:20 NIV)  Countless “begets,” “descendants,” and “clans” later, “generations” give evidence of God’s amazing love for life!  Our bodies may feel the sting of death but, in Jesus, our souls claim the victory of sweet life! 

   “Father.”  “Mother.”  “Children.”  “Genealogies” of life!  Death stings, but it has not conquered. 

   Thanks be to God!  His hands have not stopped creating!  His love is still amazing!  And His promise of sweet, sweet life is new everyday in Jesus!  “The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but Jesus says, ‘I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full.’”  (John 10:10 NIV)   

   Jesus is victorious! 

   Ahh… the promise of sweet, sweet life is ours!