Titus 1:2

Paul — a missionary and one of the most influential early followers of Jesus — is writing to Titus, a younger leader he mentored in the early church. He describes their shared faith as resting on the hope of eternal life, a hope grounded not in wishful thinking but in a specific promise made by God. What makes this remarkable is Paul's insistence that God "does not lie" — a direct contrast to the gods of the ancient world, who were commonly depicted as deceptive and unpredictable. Even more striking is the timing: this promise was made "before the beginning of time," meaning before creation existed, before humans were formed, before anything could go right or wrong. God's plan for eternal life wasn't a reaction to human failure — it was the original intention.

Lord, You made this promise before I existed — and that takes my breath away. On the days when hope feels distant and my faith runs thin, remind me that what I'm standing on is older and truer than my feelings. Thank You for being a God who doesn't lie. Amen.

Imagine signing a contract before the other party even existed. That's essentially what this verse describes. Before the first atom blinked into being, before there were oceans or stars or people to disappoint God, He had already committed to a promise of eternal life. There's something almost vertiginous about that — the idea that your hope has roots older than time itself, that you weren't a footnote in someone else's story but a face God had in mind before the universe had one. In a world where promises get broken over breakfast, where even the most sincere people fail to keep their word, Paul is pointing to something categorically different. "God does not lie" isn't just a personality trait — it's the bedrock your faith stands on. On the days when prayer feels like talking to a ceiling, when faith runs thin and abstract, this verse invites you to go back before the beginning. The hope you carry isn't something you manufactured. It was placed there long before you arrived.