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Adorning
The Doctrine
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.
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