October 9, 2022 – Daily Bread Devotional for Today | Sunday Daily Devotions Reading

October 9, 2022 – Daily Bread Devotional for Today

TOPIC: Self-Control

SCRIPTURE READING: Titus 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,

13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

KEY VERSE: The grace of God . . . teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives. — Titus 2:11-12

October 9, 2022 – Daily Bread Devotional MESSAGE

In this passage self-control literally means “having a sound mind, or being reasonable.” It is basically the opposite of living in confusion, ignorance, or indifference about making choices that support healthy living.

God’s grace saves us from ungodliness (literally, “an unworshipful life”) and from being a slave to the world’s ideas of what we need or want. We are not born with the ability to just say “no”—at least not on a regular basis and not without something else to say “yes” to. If we are without God in our life, all of our “yes’s” are basically guesswork. Our guesses sometimes make things worse, and sometimes a little better—but without God we cannot find the path to full life.

In his grace, however, God has already said “yes” to something else for us. Through the work of the Savior, Jesus, God has said “yes” to our redemption, giving us a whole new way of life. And because of this, God can now train us to say “yes” to better and better choices in our everyday living. That’s self-control.

Self-control is the God-trained ability to understand and choose which options bring us closer to being our best selves.

October 9, 2022 – Daily Bread Devotional PRAYER

Jesus, make our path clear today, and give us the self-control we need to choose that path. When we choose wrongly, correct us gently. And when we choose correctly, encourage us, we pray. Amen.

Today Devotional written by Scott DeVries has served as a church pastor and as a ministry ­coordinator in the Holland, Michigan, area. He currently works at ­facilitating connections between the more than twenty ministries and 1,100 churches of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. He has a passion for prayer, church organization, and studying the Scriptures in their original languages.