Today we remember St. Leo the Great.
When false teaching threatened
to wash out the truth about Jesus,
Leo didn’t say, “Everyone has their own view.”
He wrote on the truth the church teaches.
Near my house
there is a sign on the road:
"Bridge Out."
Nobody calls that a guideline.
Someone who cared about your safety
put it there.
Some say the Bible
only offers guidelines,
that sin is a word we made up.
But Paul tells Titus,
"Say what is consistent with sound doctrine."
That's not a suggestion.
That's a sign on the road.
The Ten Commandments name
the bridges that are out.
The Greatest Commandment tells us why:
love God, love neighbor.
And Titus shows what
that love looks like on a Tuesday:
self-control,
integrity,
a life no one can fault.
Paul gives the purpose:
"So that the word of God may not be discredited."
The goal is a life that makes the Gospel believable.
And the power to live it?
"The grace of God has appeared… training us to reject godless ways."
Grace doesn't erase the sign.
Grace is the teacher who walks us past the danger.
If sin were made up,
the Cross would be made up too.
But Christ gave Himself
to deliver us from all lawlessness,
so we could be a people
eager to do what is good.
Prayer
Lord Jesus,
You placed the signs
along my road out of love.
Give me the humility to heed them.
Teach me by Your grace
to turn from what harms me,
and make me eager
to do what is good.
Amen.
St. Leo the Great, pray for us.
