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In Titus 2:10 we read, "That they
may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things."
The doctrine of God as revealed in the New Testament is
a glorious system of truth. His law is high and holy
law, and one that excites our admiration. When it is
preached, it draws men unto it and unto God. Even in the
worst of men there is something that approves it. It is
strikingly beautiful and high. It has a grandeur all its
own. The problem of the Christian is to translate it
from words into deeds and life and character. When this
is done, the gospel is seen to be a practical reality,
and not a lofty and impossible standard.
Our lives are to adorn the gospel
in all things. To adorn means to ornament, to beautify.
Only that which is beautiful and attractive can adorn;
hence if we adorn the doctrine of Christ we must be
attractive and beautiful in character and life. But can
our lives and characters be such as to adorn the
doctrine? God has promised to "beautify the meek with
salvation" (Psalms 149:4). In Psalms 29:2 we are told to
"worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." In the
sight of the Lord, therefore, holiness is beautiful. It
is also beautiful in the sight of men when they look at
it with unprejudiced eyes. Sin, on the other hand, is
unlovely and defiling in all its aspects. There is
nothing in it to adorn the life or the character. It is
ruinous. "Sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs
14:34). Only when we are made holy can we adorn the
doctrine of Jesus Christ our Savior. Only when we are
made partakers of the divine nature and have in us the
beauty of the Son of God can we shine so as to adorn the
doctrine as jewels. Speaking of his children, the Lord
said, "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of host,
in that day when I make up my jewels" (Malachi 3:17).
Speaking of his people collectively as his bride, the
Lord says, "And to her was granted that she should be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints" (Revelation 19:8).
This shows a condition in which his people must be in
order to adorn his doctrine, and this is the condition
to which he will bring us if we but give him the
opportunity. Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). It is this
way that we adorn the doctrine. The doctrine teaches
such good works, and when those good works are seen in
our lives, it reacts to the glory of the doctrine and to
him who gave the doctrine.
If we desired to adorn ourselves,
we should not put on old rags, stick lumps of clay
around over our clothing, nor put on anything that was
repellent. We know very well that such would attract no
one. We would not smear our faces with soot or dirty
grease to render ourselves attractive. How ashamed the
housewife feels when visitors come and find her children
with dirty hands and faces and clothes ragged and
unclean! As these things destroy attractiveness, so does
ill conduct. One who professes to be a Christian and yet
whose life and character are not Christ-like cannot
adorn the doctrine. Unkindness in a person does not
attract us to him nor to his religion. Untruthfulness or
insincerity is not only a blot on his own character and
life, but a blot on his religion if he professes to be a
Christian. To be harsh or rude or unreasonable, to be
selfish or self-willed, or to be proud, is to dishonor
God instead of honoring him.
Sometimes persons are hard to
please. Do as you will, you cannot satisfy them. They
are always wanting things some other way. These same
persons are sometimes very well pleased with themselves,
but nobody else can come up to their standard or do as
they desire him to do. This is not a characteristic of
holiness. This is not something that will honor God.
Instead of these things and other things like them being
an advertisement of grace, they show the lack of it.
What would such persons do if they were to go to heaven?
The mere transference from earth to heaven will not
change our moral state. If there is anything in us here
that we should not like to have in us in eternity, here
is the place to get the change made. Here is the place
to have our lives made as we desire them to be in
eternity. Here is the place for character-building. Here
is the place to become Christ-like. Here is the place to
adorn the doctrine, that men may see your good works.
God has told us that nothing that defiles shall enter
heaven. Only that which is beautiful and good will be
there.
Oh for more holy lives! Oh for
more consistency among those who profess to be Christ's!
Oh for more of the glory of the Lord resting upon hearts
and lives! Oh for more of the beauty of salvation, the
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit! Many professors of
religion adorn themselves outwardly with gold, pearls,
and costly array, with feathers and flowers, and with
many other things that they think adorn them; but oh for
that inner adornment of heart that is precious in the
sight of God and that lets the beauty of God's light
shine out into the world! How often outward adornment
covers a heart filled with iniquity! How often such
adornment is the outward show of that inward pride which
God hates! How often it reveals the corruption of the
nature instead of its purity!
God wants our lives to be adorned with
jewels, and the gold in which those jewels are to be set
is purity. This is the background upon which all the
jewels of character are to be displayed. It is the
fundamental requirement in every life. If we are not
pure, our lives will not be pure, and God will not be
glorified. Impurity in word or thought or desire cannot
long be hidden; it will manifest itself, and always in a
way to dishonor the individual and his God. The pure in
heart and life always shine for God, and they always
adorn his doctrine. God wants us to be true and
faithful. He desires "truth in the inward parts" (Psalms
51:6). He desires truth manifested in the life. He wants
all our words to be true. He does not want us to speak
evil of any man. He does not want us to speak that which
dishonors him, or that which is evil in his sight. He
wants us to be faithful, "showing all good fidelity," as
he has said. Fidelity is one of the most glorious of
Christian virtues. God wants us to be faithful to our
word, faithful in our dealings, faithful in our public
life and in our private life, and faithful in every way.
In this way we can adorn the doctrine. If we are
unfaithful, we dishonor him. He wants us to be earnest
and sincere, to be gentle and meek, to have the law of
kindness in our tongues. He wants us to be kind in our
thoughts, in our actions, in our words. He would have
the sound of his own kindness in our voices, the look of
his own kindness in our eyes, and his own pity and
tenderness in our feelings. He desires us to be
temperate - temperate in our lives, our actions, our
words, in every way. If we are to adorn the doctrine, we
must avoid excesses and extremes. We must also be
reasonable in the positions we take, in our actions, and
in the things that we require of others. By this means
people will see that we are Christ-like, and the
doctrine will be glorified and adorned as no earthly
jewels can adorn it. Men will listen to it and say that
it is true, for that person lives just as the Book
teaches. |
