He saved us according to His mercy

Recently we were attending a wedding rehearsal with the wedding the next day. 

The man conducting the service is a reverend whose business is to arrange the whole ceremony.  Along with this he uses a traditional Christian wedding service including the LORD's and Jesus name.  This was the second time we have seen him at work in 3 years. Although serious, he was a polite, happy person with a sense of humor as he interacted with people.

It is quite interesting to watch him interact with the wedding party at the rehearsal as he explained proper ways for the groomsmen to treat the bridesmaid he is ushering her down the isle, how the groom is to treat his bride as a treasure on her special day, and how the bride is to honor her husband to be that day. It was done very well.

He explained love, respect, and honor further with the bride and groom during his service the next day. It was very well done. 

When we saw him years ago and recently, I was struck by how this man is trying to teach simple manners to these young people who have been neglected by the teachings of just proper behavior and etiquette.

Obviously, the wedding couple chose this man to do their service for a reason.  They could have chosen anyone else who would have just let every thing "go", but they chose this man. To their credit their behavior was respectful to him and to the others on both days.

My shock was how the wedding party behaved.  All were adults by age, probably towards thirty. At the rehearsal these 16 people were boisterous, barely paying attention, the women mocking "how to behave" while walking with their groomsmen...

The day of the wedding these 16, who had already been drinking, behaved rudely as they waited to walk own the isle.  What a sad commentary on beautifully dressed young people, seemingly ugly on the inside, definitely lacking the teaching of manners, who could have learned a little bit of a lesson from this preacher man if they had chosen to do so.   

The rest of the ceremony seemed to be uneventful, thankfully. We left before the party began.

By their behavior I could wonder that these people did not have Jesus as their Savior and so we can grieve for them. Even so, I do believe that the teaching of simple manners is history for most of our culture.

As for those of us who have given our lives to Jesus who is now our Savior, we have the power to overcome sinfulness and behave properly with others. Praise the LORD!

Titus 3:1-7
"Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, 
to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 
whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 
so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."