Today, we continue our series entitled “Living the Grace Life,” where we will learn to embrace and walk in God’s unmerited, unearned, and often undeserved favor throughout 2025.
As part of this series, I am teaching a verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Galatians. Let’s get into it.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Corinthians? ?9?:?8? ?TPT?? “Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything—every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.”
Galatians? ?5?:?4? ?TPT?? “If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace!”
Romans? ?6?:?14? ?ERV?? “Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace.”
1 Corinthians? ?15?:?10? ?NIV? “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”
Scripture(s) we will study today:
Galatians 2:3 TPT
“Yet not even Titus, my Greek companion, was required to be circumcised.”
Galatians 2:3 ERV
“Titus was with me. He was a Greek, but even he was not forced to be circumcised.”
Galatians 5:1 TPT
“Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.”
Setting the Stage:
Before I get into the message, I want to share a scripture I was thinking about this morning when I got up. It is 2 Timothy 2:2. In this verse, the Apostle Paul is speaking to his spiritual son, and this is what he said, “The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Right now, I am on Mountain time, so I have to get up earlier than usual in order to go LIVE at 7 am ET. I have been doing Today’s Word for 28 years. If you ask me why I do it, the first answer is because God told me to do so. The second is because I have seen the Word changes. And lastly, I love it when people take the Word God gave me, that I shared it with them, and they take it and share it with others. This is how the Kingdom of God advances! So, thank you for receiving what God is giving me to give you, for allowing it to change your life, and for sharing it with others!
In today’s Scripture, the Apostle Paul said something that reveals the true nature of grace-based freedom. When Paul says, “Yet not even Titus, my Greek companion, was required to be circumcised,” he’s making a declaration about the freedom that grace brings.
This is the first time Paul mentions this critical issue in his letter to the Galatians, but it won’t be the last. Throughout this letter, Paul will return to this theme again and again because the Galatians were being pressured to abandon grace and return to performance-based religion. Paul is introducing a topic here that he will hammer home repeatedly because their freedom in grace was under attack.
This wasn’t just about the physical procedure. Circumcision represented the entire Law system—the idea that you must perform certain religious requirements to be accepted by God. The fact that Titus, a Greek (Gentile), was not required to be circumcised demonstrates that grace has set us completely free from performance-based religion.
Here’s what’s beautiful: Titus was accepted exactly as he was. He didn’t need to become something else, do something more, or perform some religious ritual to qualify for God’s grace. This passage shows us that when you’re living #TheGraceLife, you are free from the pressure to conform to religious requirements that add nothing to what Jesus has already accomplished. Grace doesn’t just modify the Law system; it replaces it completely.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. Grace Gives You Freedom From Religious Performance.
The fact that Titus was not required to be circumcised reveals that grace eliminates the need for religious performance to gain God’s acceptance. Under the Law system, there were always requirements to fulfill, rituals to perform, and standards to maintain. But grace says you are already accepted exactly as you are.
This doesn’t mean grace promotes sin. It means grace provides what the Law demanded but could never deliver: righteousness, acceptance, and transformation from the inside out.
How this applies to you:
— You are free from the pressure to perform religious activities to earn or maintain God’s favor toward you.
— Your acceptance with God is not based on your church attendance, prayer time, Bible reading, or any other religious activity. It is based on what Jesus did.
— This means that you can engage in spiritual disciplines from a place of freedom and love rather than obligation and pressure.
— I attend church services, I sing, I worship, I serve, etc., not BE saved, but because God already saved me. There is a world of difference.
— Grace doesn’t make you lazy in your spiritual life. If you embrace the grace of God, you will work harder than you ever have. It’s just that you will be motivated by love rather than driven by fear or obligation.
— When you understand that you’re already accepted, you can serve God with joy rather than serving Him to try to gain acceptance.
— Religious performance creates stress and burnout. Grace-based living creates rest and effectiveness.
2. Grace Refuses to Add Requirements to What Jesus Already Completed.
The pressure for Titus to be circumcised represented the religious tendency to add human requirements to God’s finished work. But Paul and the other apostles refused to require this because grace says Jesus’ work is complete and sufficient.
When people try to add requirements to grace, they’re essentially saying Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t enough. But Paul’s stand with Titus declares that nothing can be added to what Jesus has already accomplished.
How this applies to you:
— You can resist any teaching that adds human requirements to what Jesus has already done for your acceptance with God.
— The moment you add requirements, you leave grace and enter performance-based religion.
— In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he explains that God’s grace is a gift. You cannot work for a gift. All you can do with a gift is receive it. If you try to work for it, then the gift is no longer a gift. At that point, it becomes payment for your effort. Paul said it this way, “And since it is by God’s grace, it can’t be a matter of their good works; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a gift of grace, but earned by human effort” (Romans 11:6).
— You don’t need to dress a certain way, speak a certain way, or follow certain cultural traditions to be accepted by God.
— Your salvation, blessing, and acceptance are complete in Christ. Nothing can be added to make you more acceptable to God.
— When religious people try to put you under pressure to perform, you can stand firm in the freedom that grace provides.
— You can embrace the simplicity of grace without feeling guilty about not conforming to extra-biblical religious traditions. Mark 7:13 warns us that religious traditions can “make the word of God of none effect.” In this verse, Jesus condemned religious leaders who had created manmade traditions that actually contradicted and nullified God’s commands. When believers today feel condemned for not following extra-biblical religious practices, they’re experiencing exactly what Jesus opposed: traditions of men that rob God’s Word of its power and effectiveness in their lives. Where the Bible is silent, we should be silent. We must stop adding requirements that are not in the Bible and allow grace to be sufficient.
3. Grace Demonstrates That God’s Acceptance Transcends Cultural and Religious
Boundaries.
Titus was a Greek (Gentile), representing those who were outside the Jewish covenant. Yet, he was fully accepted without having to become Jewish first. This shows that God’s grace reaches across every cultural, ethnic, and religious boundary.
Grace doesn’t discriminate based on your background, culture, race, or religious upbringing. It accepts you exactly where you are and transforms you from that place.
How this applies to you:
— Your background doesn’t disqualify you from God’s grace. Jesus died for everyone, everywhere.
— God’s grace is big enough to reach anyone, anywhere, with any background. No one is too far gone for grace to reach.
— You don’t have to abandon your cultural identity to be accepted by God. Grace can work within your culture and transform you to reach people who were raised just like you. The culture of God’s Kingdom can be manifested within your culture in a way that God is glorified!
— You can be confident that God’s acceptance of you is not based on your family background, your past mistakes, or your current circumstances.
— Grace creates unity across diversity. You can fellowship with people from different backgrounds because grace is what you have in common.
— When sharing the gospel with others, you can emphasize God’s unconditional acceptance rather than the religious requirements they must fulfill.
— Your testimony of grace can reach people who would be turned off by the requirements of religious performance. The gospel of grace offers freedom from the power of sin, the fear of death, and the bondage of religious performance. This is the gospel we are called to preach!
4. Grace Empowers You to Stand Firm in Your Freedom.
Paul didn’t cave to the pressure to have Titus circumcised, even though it would have been easier to avoid the controversy. When you understand the freedom that grace brings, you become protective of that freedom—not just for yourself, but for others.
How this applies to you:
— When you fully embrace the grace of God, you can stand firm against religious pressure without being rebellious or disrespectful. You don’t have to argue with anyone. You just love people and point them to the Scriptures. At that point, if they have a disagreement, it will be with the Bible and not you.
— When people try to put you under religious performance requirements, you can lovingly but firmly maintain your position in grace. Once again, pointing them to what the Bible says.
— Your freedom in grace is worth protecting because it’s the foundation of your effectiveness and joy in serving God. There is no way that I would have the JOY that I have if I lived under the pressure to perform or to comply with the traditions of men.
— You can help others discover the same freedom you’ve found in grace by demonstrating what grace-based living looks like.
— You can be gracious while being firm about the principles of grace. Walking in love doesn’t mean compromising the truth.
— Your stand for grace may cost you some relationships with people who are stubborn about traditions, but it will also position you to reach people who desperately need the freedom you’ve discovered.
— The reason I preach #TheGraceLife with so much passion and fervor is because I know what it has done for me. I pray you open your heart to the grace of God as well!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for the complete freedom that grace brings to my life.
I declare that I am accepted exactly as I am, without needing to perform religious requirements to gain Your favor.
I stand firm in the freedom that Christ has given me, refusing to go back into religious bondage.
I declare that Your grace is sufficient and complete—nothing can be added to what Jesus has already accomplished.
I embrace my freedom from performance-based religion while still choosing to serve You simply because I love You!
I will help others discover this same freedom by demonstrating what grace-based living looks like.
I am living #TheGraceLife, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
