Epiphanies and Testimonies

By Danny Saavedra

“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, while we wait for the blessed hope — the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 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.” — Titus 2:11–14 (NIV)

When I began studying this book years ago, I was floored by just how incredible and truly life-changing it was. Every word in this short letter is worth twice its weight in gold! Today, I want to hone in on one particular word from Titus 2:11, where we read, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.”

The word translated as appeared here in this passage is epephanē. It means, “to bring light to, to make visible, to become clearly known.” It’s where we get our English word epiphany! And here’s what I want you to see:

2 Corinthians 4:4–6 says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.”

Can you see and feel the weight of this truth? The eyes of those who don’t believe in Jesus have been blinded by the enemy to where they can’t see the truth, they can’t understand the truth, and they reject the truth. And guess what? If you’re a believer, at some point, you were in the same predicament — you couldn’t see the light of Jesus until, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you had that epiphany Paul’s talking about here. At that moment in your life, friend, the light of the gospel broke through the darkness and shone into your heart!

And when that happened, as the old hymn says, you who were once blind could now see. By the grace of God, you were saved and the Holy Spirit came upon you to restore you, to make you new, to sanctify you, and to do a transforming work in your life from the inside out. Are you with me so far? I hope so because this next part is important.

When you look at the rest of this passage, what you see is that because we had our Spirit-given, Spirit-driven epiphany, we now have hope, or as we’ve learned these last few days, a confident expectation and certainty that we’ll see the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. One day, we’ll be in heaven with Him and share in His glory forever. That’s our hope, what we look forward to with confidence, right? BUT IN THE MEANTIME, we’ve been given a mission.

You see, as we’re reminded of in 2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV), there are so many people around us — coworkers, neighbors, classmates, friends, family — whose minds are blinded “so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And God has commanded AND invited us to help them see the light of the gospel through our lives and hear the hope of the gospel through our words so that, through our lives and our words, the Spirit can work and open their eyes and hearts to receive Jesus. This is why our hope in Christ MUST cause us to live differently, to say, “‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope.”

So, as we grow in our relationship with Him, as we’re transformed by the Spirit, He produces good fruit and good works out of us, which He then uses to help others have their epiphany! Friend, your life can be the catalyst God uses to bring the light of Jesus into the lives of the people around you, to make the love of God through Christ visible to them, and to make the power of the gospel clearly known to them.

Pause: Are you growing in Him, being sanctified daily through relationship and devotion to His Word? And in light of that, are you making yourself available to be used by the Spirit?

Practice: Think about where God has placed you. Who has He surrounded you with? What platform has He given you? Wherever you’ve been and whoever you’re surrounded by, you’ve been ordained by God, commissioned by Jesus, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to reveal the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ to those around you. In this season, commit to living the kind of life that produces the kind of fruit that makes the gospel attractive to the people around you.

Pray: Father, I pray today that You would use me to help others have their epiphany, to have their eyes opened to the hope of the gospel of Jesus, and to put their hope, trust, and faith in Your Son as their Lord and Savior. Use me how You see fit. I’m Your servant. Send me, Lord, with the hope of the world, into the world, to draw those in the world, to Your kingdom. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.