Adorning the doctrine

It's a beautiful September day in upstate New York. I sat outside on our back patio this morning to do my devotions. Currently, I am reading in Titus and I came across this verse in chapter 2 which tells us to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. I loved that statement and thought adorn was such a descriptive word to use. The doctrine of God is what it is and that is settled. But we have the opportunity to adorn it (to add to the attractiveness of, to set off to an advantage or to beautify; according to Webster's Dictionary) by our actions, our words and our manner of life. We expose the doctrine of God to those around us, day by day. Is my life adorning or detracting from the doctrine of God.

When I thought of the word adorning it brought to mind a bride adorning herself for her wedding. It is said that every bride is beautiful. But I know from recent experience that it takes a lot of thought and effort to get the best dress for your size and shape, to select the jewelry that would best suit the dress style, to get the most flattering hair style and find the perfect flowers for your bouquet, to get just the right perfume and makeup. I remember Elizabeth reading books about marriage and her role and responsibities after the wedding. And I remember her thinking a lot about what her life was going to look like after the marriage.

Adorning takes work, effort, interest, creativity and personal responsibility. Verse 11 says that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Verse 12 tells us some of the ways we can adorn the doctrine of God, by denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and living soberly and righteously and godly in this present world. A big calling but He has enabled us to do it.