Titus 2:11-12: Your Offense is Only as Good as Your Defense

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age..." Titus 2:11-12

For those of you watched the Packer game this past weekend, you saw an example of how a pro football team can have a great (okay, at least 'good') offense, but an absolutely terrible defense. Although Rodgers was a bit off, the offense still did a fairly good job at scoring, converting on third and even fourth downs, and not giving up until the end. However, the defense was a different story. In fact, you might find it hard to call what those eleven players did a "defense" at all. It was quite painful to watch, honestly, but I think there's a good analogy here, and that is this: our offense is truly only as good as our defense.

In the Christian life, I think we often prize ourselves with winning a lot of "offensive" battles. It's easy for us to go to church, read our Bibles, have spiritual conversations, and act as if everything is going "just fine." But let us realize that our "offense" is only half the battle. Although it's great to do all of those "spiritual" things, if we can't do the spiritual thing: resist temptation, we have lost. Our offense may be good, but if we leave the back door open, the enemy will attack us with ease. Though our offense may be good, if our defense is sub-par, we are still losing the battle--and we may ultimately lose the war.

In Titus 2:11-12, Paul encourages us to respond correctly to the grace of God. The grace of God is many things in our lives, but most importantly Jesus Christ and the salvation that he has brought to us who are truly Christians. Yet in responding to this grace, Paul encourages us to do two things: to "renounce ungodliness and worldly passions" and to "live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives." In other words, Paul commands us to play offense and defense. He wants us, in light of the grace of God and in consideration of how it "trains" us to do these things, to renounce (some versions translate "to say 'no' to") evil things and to strive for godly things. He commands us to both stop the enemy as well as advance against it--to not only intercept the ball but also move it down the field.

What I'm trying to say is this: many times in our Christian lives, I think we create an unhelpful dichotomy between our "offense" and our "defense." Although the two certainly go together, we often think that if we do enough "offense" (go to church, read our Bibles, pray every morning, etc.), we can slack off on our "defense" (resisting sexual temptation, avoiding passivity, neglecting laziness, etc). We think that if we do enough good things we "deserve to sin." But is that really the pattern of the Bible? Let us realize that Paul here, as well of the rest of scripture, commands us to play both an offensive and a defensive battle, both every day and every moment of our lives. We cannot give up "fighting the good fight of faith" at any time or in any way--for the Christian walk has no "offseason."

So, let me encourage you to ask yourself today: how's your defense? You may think you are doing all of the right things, but are you leaving yourself open for the devil to attack from behind? What "gaps" in your life have you not well defended? I encourage you to deal with those today, lest you lose the battle. For remember: YOUR OFFENSE IS ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR DEFENSE!yyjyyour offense is only as good as your defense.yyour offense is only as good as your defense.yyyour offense is really only as good as your defense.