Category Archives: Faith

Faith

Add to your faith virtue

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In my last blog, God led me on a journey to explain His good and perfect reign where mourning, death, and pain are nonexistent as described in Revelations 21:4. God is absolute virtue, and in His Kingdom, He exists apart from an embodied person and governs life. 

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good… Genesis 1: 3-4

We also discussed how Paul persevered through hardship. He was driven by his fervent love of God to think about God’s good nature while navigating a world replete with evil. Nevertheless, even the most resilient Christians occasionally grapple with this challenge. As we grow in our knowledge of who God is, navigating hardship becomes easy, because His burden is light.

Let’s continue to explore God’s goodness the essence of His light.

The standard definition of virtue in the English language is the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. Virtues are things like love, joy, and peace. To be virtuous is to embody a virtue or several virtues, but to be Holy is to possess all virtues, executing them with wisdom, irrespective of time (forever). 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Galatians 5:22

Biblically, God is absolute virtue and in heaven His goodness is unregulated. It just is, like oxygen, hence God’s name “I am.” In the Kingdom of Heaven, where God reigns, no wrong goes unnoticed because God is perfectly just. If anyone thinks they are “good,” try that! I’m sure my kids get away with things I never see. If we are honest with ourselves, God’s just nature should both frighten us and make us glad! His virtuous reign (light) creates a sense of security and safety that is joyful and peaceful; both here, and effortlessly in Heaven.

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you. Isaiah 26:3

God is perfectly just. He is also the fruit of the Spirit, and every other virtue known to man. It’s truly remarkable and worthy of respect and praise. Before the fall, God reigned with His creation; we knew Him, and we were one with Him, so what happened?

The Bible tells us after God created the heavens and the earth, He described His creation as good. After all, He’s only willing to do good. Then, in Genesis chapter 2, God causes two trees to spring up from the ground: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Notice the second tree is named the knowledge of “good” and evil. Evil is good perverted. Perversion in this context means having been corrupted or distorted from its original purpose or state. God calls it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because evil cannot exist apart from good in the same way a lie cannot exist without a truth.

God gave mankind a choice between the two trees because He loves and respects us. King David wrote to God in Psalm 139:14, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Godly fear is understood in the Bible as respect or reverence for the things of God. It’s often used to describe a way of relating to God, but King David is saying that, as image bearers, God also relates to us in this way.

With purposeful intent, God fashioned mankind with intellect to know Him, granted us free will to choose Him, and then showed mankind that bearing His image means we are bestowed dignity. The dignity to choose what we think is “right” for ourselves.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

If God had not given Adam and Eve a choice to be with Him, He would have been forcing mankind to be under His good and perfect authority and this would have compromised His character. Instead, out of His respect for us, God gives mankind a choice. In doing so, He proves Himself worthy of respect, because He is respect.

We see in the story of Adam and Eve that Satan stole what God meant for good and perverted it, and it completely changed the state of creation. The Bible says that after the fall and the knowledge of evil (vice) entered mankind perverse thoughts, corrupt behavior, and spiritual death spread like wildfire. Among the consequences of Adam and Eve’s choice was physical death.

Mankind, in error, chose to disobey God one time, and a spiritual and physical, chemical reaction occurred that fundamentally altered the state of creation. Mankind apart from God’s perfect reign (light) turned inward to selfishness (darkness). Since the fall of mankind in the garden, the knowledge of both good and evil reigns, separating us from the presence of God.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. Genesis 1: 3-4

God’s goodness is so pure evil cannot coexist with Him. While His light (virtue) illuminates’ life, the absence of light (darkness) conceals (hides) His goodness.

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2

Although mankind is well-suited for good, our natural tendencies, often beginning in our thoughts (knowledge), if left unchecked are persuaded towards evil. Therefore, we must intentionally pursue an understanding and knowledge of virtue, God’s goodness, and light. We must do as Peter instructed in 2 Peter 1:5 “add to your faith virtue.”

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue. 2 Peter 1:3

Join me for my next blog as we explore the primary way mankind interacts with God, humility.

Faith

Virtue Himself Reigns

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In Philippians chapter 4, Paul instructs us to think about all things that are good:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Paul wrote this letter to the people in Philippi while he was in prison, and he mentioned that he was “in perfect peace,” a peace beyond natural understanding.

Despite facing dire circumstances and potential death, Paul fearlessly sang with his innermost being, declaring, “It is well with my soul.” He encouraged the church at Philippi to follow the example of Christ by trusting God’s sovereignty in all things and focusing on anything that is excellent or praiseworthy. Paul’s instruction was to intentionally occupy your mind with good.

Paul wasn’t merely suggesting to think about good things for the sake of remaining happy; he was aware of his dire circumstances. He emphasized the importance of thinking about good things, because he understood who God is and what governs His Kingdom. Paul urged believers to embrace the state of mind before the fall when all things were good, and the knowledge of good in relation to evil had not yet entered creation.

In his vulnerable position, the Holy Spirit fueled Paul’s thoughts, strengthening his knowledge of who God is and the eternal glory that awaited him by contemplating all things true, noble, right, and pure. God embodies many virtues; He is absolute virtue.

The difference between Jesus and the Holy Spirit can be compared to the difference between righteousness and uprightness. Righteousness emphasizes the moral person, while uprightness emphasizes morality (virtue) apart from the person. Paul knew God and Christ.

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3

In the Kingdom of Heaven, love, justice, mercy, and righteousness exist apart from the actions of an embodied person and govern life. They are not merely words. We live willfully subjected to them and they animate all of life. While Jesus was on earth, He was the perfect embodiment of virtue, providing a glimpse of “I am.” Apart from Christ and the Holy Spirit, we can only create a cheap imitation of virtue on earth, but in heaven, absolute virtue reigns, proceeding from God and Jesus, sustaining all of life. What we strive to attain and perfect here will be fulfilled there.

Paul had a holy discontentment to press forward for the purpose of hearing “well done, my good and faithful servant,” and so that others might see through his suffering the freedom that awaits—a life without pain, mourning, or tears. Like Jesus, Paul gives others hope through temporal sufferings for the glorious future where virtue Himself reigns.

This is the call of every believer: to know and love God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit. We know them when we understand and think about their goodness until the knowledge of who they are completely consumes us, causing us to press forward in holy discontentment to obtain Heaven on earth (peace regardless of circumstance).

“Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-13

Faith, Reflective Reading

God is holy

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“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
    The whole earth is filled with his glory!” -Isaiah 6:1-3

In my last blog, God is who He is, I finished with the question, “Who is God to you?” I explained our character and choices will reflect who we believe God is. If you believe God answers prayers, you will wait expectantly for God to answer your prayers.  If you believe God is a Father who provides for your basic needs, you will express thanksgiving when they’re met. If you believe God will catch you or teach you when you take leaps of faith, you will take leaps of faith. No psychologist, self-help guru, or pastor disagree: Our beliefs are powerful.

If you believe God is Holy, you will have reverence for Him. 

Let’s consider what it means to say, God is holy. In Habakkuk 1:13, God is said to be so pure he does not tolerate evil. Holiness means “to separate” or “to cut off” anything that is sinful, impure, or evil. Holiness is an inability to be corrupted and a state of being perfectly good. Because God is perfectly good, our sin separates us from Him. This explains why we can’t stroll down the street and sit in His office like Adam and Eve had the pleasure of doing. Although we are created in His image, none of us fully live up to the standard He sets. God alone is perfectly good, and He is far above and beyond us.

It sounds terrible to believe we are separated from God. His perfection might even evoke fear in your heart. It does mine at times. An unbeliever might think, “How inadequate Christian’s must feel,” but how much worse would it be if God were fallible like us?

It’s exciting to know that we can count on God to do the right thing.

“You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.” -Psalm 5:4

Now, that I’ve explained holiness is an absence of anything evil, we can understand that everything associated with God is holy. God described the earth and His creation including Adam and Even as “very good.” It wasn’t until after the fall the world became filled with evil. When Christ died, His mission was to bring us back into a relationship with God. Through Christ Christians claim association to God. Christ didn’t die to only save us from eternal condemnation. He died to save us from our sin. He died so that we would become holy. What is the key to living a holy life?

Through faith in Christ we can draw closer to God and become less associated with sin.

Jesus’s death did not grant us the permission to sin. It was the solution to free believers from sin. Striving to grow in holiness is essential to the Christian life.

In John 8, it is evident that Jesus does not condemn us, but he said, “Go and sin no more.” In Hebrews Paul said, “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Jesus’s death and resurrection laid the foundation for us to attain His command.

My prayer is that as we learn what it means to be virtuous, we grow in deeper reverence for God and allow Him to strengthen our beliefs, re-define our values, and bring clarity to what it means to be holy.

“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” -1 Thessalonians 4:7

What does holiness look like to you?

Faith, Reflective Reading

God is who He is

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I will never forget the Sunday morning a Pastor got down on his knee and in a tear filled plea said, “Church, God is not who you want Him to be, God is who He is.”

I’ve realized that a lot of Christians, including myself, have the tendency to believe God is a fragmented version of their best self.

Often times we think we are good and wise people, so we voice indignation at the wrong doing and crime of others. This is good. It’s evidence of protecting virtues, but rarely do we work to understand and acquire virtue itself. Donald Demarco said, “Trying to become virtuous merely by excluding vice is as unrealistic as trying to cultivate roses solely by eliminating weeds.” So many of us know who God is not, but few of us take the time to understand who God is and to develop an understanding of His character. Demarco goes on to explain that we have to work towards understanding, acquiring, and developing virtue in order to be the person God created us to be, a reflection of Himself.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Throughout history people have used virtues to justify horrific and even simply wrong acts. An example of this is Hitler, the nationalist who believed that exterminating “inferior races” was doing right by his country. Compared to Hitler we are all angels so we must be doing pretty well, huh? No. In less volume and also tragic cases, the lack of understanding and acquiring virtue can ruin relationships with family and friends. It can ruin marriages and a child’s worldview.

On a positive note, virtue is what binds us together. It’s having faith that God lives in people and trusting each other to do right by one another. Its loyalty to God first and people second. Its charity, courage, compassion, wisdom, modesty, patience. It’s understanding love in relation to God’s perfect character and applying it accordingly.

If we don’t take the time to learn His character and understand what it is to be virtuous we will live a life reducing God in our minds and hearts. We will define Him and our values through our own limited understanding. We will be living a lie, and a life short of the abundance He promised.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10

God desires for us to know Him, His character, His mission, and to reflect His image in the world. This is the design He imagined when He created us in His image. Its the design Jesus came to restore, and the design He’s coming back to perfect. Its flawless and beautiful just like the Creator.

Our lives will always be a reflection of who we believe God is.

Who is God to you?

Faith, Reflective Reading

No Justice, No Peace

I very recently came to understand and have a new appreciation for justice, but let’s rewind 5 years before I explain.

There was a time in my life I felt victimized by local and state laws. I sat in jail. A straight-A student in college and single mother, but also a very irresponsible driver. I could not afford to pay tickets, and so I sat there. It was terrible at the time. I learned from experience that most people in jail are mentally ill, suffering from addiction, and suffering from the sociological boundaries they allow to hold them captive. Having been in child protective services,  experienced the pain of drug addiction within my own family, and-well-even the fact that I was sitting in jail, there was enough to find common ground with the other ladies. In these moments spent separated from my son, I hated justice.

Fast forward to now, I’m glad to say I’m a much better driver. I have a husband that can hardly believe I ever sat my pretty little butt in jail. The consequences of me not sitting out my tickets would have stifled my career and life and also my sons. This is how legal or general justice is carried out in society. When someone has broken a law they are subject to consequences. Whether they agree with the law or not, they must submit to the consequences or they risk steeper punishment. This is justice. She carries out her duty to relinquish the wrongdoer of their debt to the community. A debt that is incurred from an action that is lawfully wrong. Justice is a fundamental virtue, and part of a system of virtues, that work to hold civilized societies together. Due to justice, we have peace in our communities.

Legal justice is a subset of an internal form of justice. Internally, justice is different. When we commit a wrongful act to another, a debt is incurred. This debt couriers itself as guilt, insuppressible guilt. Our heart betrays our minds ability to reason it away, and demands punishment in order to receive freedom. Justice is written on our hearts, and she serves as relief to our conscience when we have wronged another. Before justice is served the perpetrator wrestles their guilt, and zeal for life is lost. However, justice brings life. She is beautiful in the sense that when she is carried out she sets us free from our indebtedness; our debts to one another as well as our debts to society. Due to justice, we are able to have peace in our hearts.

“They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.” -Romans 2:15

This reflects the widespread belief held by Christians that Jesus came and justice was served at the cross. Justice that no longer has to be served by us, for eternal life with God. Other religions claim that if one chooses to live a moral life they are welcome to heaven. Christianity is different in that it says, people are born sinful and must accept Jesus, as willfully having accepted the consequences of their sinful behavior for them, in order for a Holy God to re-commune with them, despite their imperfections. Jesus’s recorded life teaches us how to live, and He extended the invitation to each of us to accept Him as serving the ultimate sentence, to set our souls and hearts eternally free. All justice was served at the cross, and through Jesus one can live a life of freedom. Due to the life baring fruit of justice, our souls have peace.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” -Matthew 11:28

The cycle of sin and redemption is: We make a mistake. In that moment the consequences are incurred. Before justice is served the wrongdoer is held captive by fear and guilt. While justice is being served we experience shame and inadequacy. Afterwards life is born, and freedom is reached. Our hearts long for the freedom born through justice, regardless of how we reason.

In every direction I look, whether backwards or forwards, I can praise God for justice.


“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” -Hebrews 12:11
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”

-Revelation 3:19

Faith

God as our rock

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In my junior high years, my mother became increasingly cruel. One night she was upset with me about something. I possibly deserved some sort of punishment, God knows I wasn’t perfect, but my mother rarely handled anything correctly, and by no means was she always provoked by bad behavior on my part. I remember being chased around the house and crying uncontrollably. She always resulted in calling my father, who I loved. I worked hard to make him proud, and when she’d call him it hurt me to upset him. This particular occurrence, I was handed the phone with my father on the line. I was crying. He asked me to go into a closet where no one could hear me. He repeated that he couldn’t understand what I was saying, and then said, “Are you in a closet? Can anyone hear you?” To which I responded confused, “Yes, I’m in a closet. No they can’t hear.” “Mandy, I am not upset with you. I know your Aunty. I know she is mean.” She’d put phrases in my head about how awful I was-bitch, ass whole, inconsiderate, worthless-the list goes on. My dad hurt knowing I was stuck there, and the abuse was not going to stop. He cried with me. He knew how painful it was for me, and he knew that words hurt, but he begged me to let them go. I heard him saying, “What to do, what to do?” Then he told me he was going to read to me. My dad took out his Bible and he started reading until I stopped crying. Afterward he prayed.

It was in those moments my father planted a seed. Not everyone that is abused has moments like these with someone there to point them in the right direction and comfort them, but God did the comforting in these precious moments.

Lord we lift up abused children to you. We ask you to free them from the  psychological chains that hold them captive. We pray that they would feel the love of God and come to believe that they are worthy of it. Also we lift up the abuser. That their eyes would be open and their hearts would be healed. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. -Psalm 18:2