Titus 2:11-15 Doctrine and Devotion Series week 14

I don’t know if you’ve ever read the book “Around the World in 80 Days” by Jules Verne, but I remember reading this classic in high school and being sucked into this incredible story. The novel tells the tale of Phileas Fogg, a wealthy Englishman, who lived a humble and solitary life. Fogg carried out his life with great accuracy and precision, and lived by a very scheduled routine. One day at the gentleman's club where Fogg was a member, a discussion broke out about how long it would take one to travel around the entire globe. Fogg being a precise sort of individual with the ability to make accurate mathematical equations, claimed one could go around the globe in 80 days. The other members of the gentleman’s club debated this claim, and finally Fogg determined to prove it for himself. So Fogg accepted a wager from his friends of 20,000 pounds that a man could travel around the globe in 80 days. Taking his newly hired French valet Passpartout, Fogg sets sail in the skies with a hot air balloon, determined to make it back to the gentlemen’s club in 80 days. ‌ The book follows the adventures of Fogg and his valet thorough various unique experiences as they attempted to race back to London in the 80 day time frame. . . He did indeed made it around the world in 80 days. After much celebration and accommodation for what had been accomplished, the book ends with Phileas Fogg going back to his normal life and resuming his daily regimented routine. ‌‌ I remember reading this book as a young person, and being sucked into the adventure. But then I got to the ending. And I remember thinking—is this it? After all you have seen and heard, are you really just going to go right back to your normal, everyday, boring life? This experience can happen in our spiritual lives as well. We can lose passion or desire for the things of God. Perhaps they just seem too ordinary or mundane. Maybe they used to hold joy or happiness and now they don’t. Or maybe, we just lose that fire that we once had for spiritual things and they no longer move us as they once did. Sometimes we can lose our love our passion for the things of God. And God doesn’t want us to get there in our spiritual lives. So as we come to our text today, Paul takes time to remind us of what we have in Christ. Lest we become apathetic towards what Jesus has done for us, and lest we become so consumed with doing, that we forget the One we are doing it for, Paul takes time to remind us that there is complete joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction in Jesus. Sometimes we lose sight of that, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t there. So as we unpack our text this morning, the big idea I want you to remember is this: ‌‌ Big Idea: we should be completely satisfied with the incredible grace of God.