“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11-12).

This has been a foundational Scripture for me. In the earliest years of my life I would have said that we are saved by grace, but the law and its rules teach us how to be godly. One day my wife, Gwen, came to me bursting with excitement because of this Scripture. It says clearly that the grace of God that saved me is still God’s way of working with me and improving my life.

That means that the answer to my flesh isn’t my self-effort. It is God’s grace that continues to change me. We are not on our own, depending on our performances to become what God wants us to be. For the rest of our lives we can depend by faith on His performance. I didn’t grasp that faith in Him would continue to work in improving my life.

I have seen the result of self-effort and rule-keeping. People give up because they don’t measure up. They either become insecure when they fail to measure up or proud when they feel like they’ve achieved righteousness on their own. I have also seen the result of grace. It produces the confidence of knowing that our lives are changing continually because we trust in Jesus and what He did.

When we realize that our righteousness is a gift of God’s grace we have no reason to ever give up because His grace is enough for us. We have no place in our lives for pride because He gets the glory for every success and every victory we experience. The grace that first appeared is effective for the rest of our lives. Our anthem as Christians can only be, “To God be the glory.”