Seeds of Virtue

I once heard a Christian speaker say that every virtue has within itself the seeds of its own destruction.*  I remember that phrase so vividly because I balked at the idea.  How can truth, as a virtue, have within itself the seeds of its own destruction?  Or mercy?  Or love?  Are these not some of the purest ideals we have and the very nature of God Himself?  

Over time, I began to understand more of what the speaker meant.  Truth, if held as the highest virtue, can carry such potent seeds as to undermine mercy, gentleness, and discretion.  Love, if overemphasized, can produce poisonous seeds that turn it into a false love devoid of truth and strength.  Any virtue, if isolated, can deteriorate into an aberration of its true character.

Have you noticed that opposing aspects of God’s character are often paired together?

“For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”  (Psa. 110:5)

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Mic. 6:8)

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”  (Isa. 57:15)

At first glance, such contradiction is confusing.  But God is not reduced to virtuous ideals; He is, and all that is good and right springs from Him.  Any virtue or goodness is merely a piece of God’s character.  Seemingly opposite characteristics within One Being force us to confront the true nature and unity of God.  He is a God of balance and wisdom who knows that virtue is not an isolated idea but an integrated whole. The apparently irreconcilable virtues of God, on deeper study, often reveal beautiful glimpses of His nature as He reconciles the humanly impossible within Himself.  People throughout history have worshipped and still worship gods that embody various ideals or aspects.  God, the “I AM” of the Bible, cannot be reduced to one virtue.  He is all.  And virtues, apart from God, are reduced to broken fragments.  

My dad is a doctor, and one of his illustrations has helped me see the necessity of balance.  He often encounters people who label fat as bad and try to avoid it completely.  Fat is not bad.  It is good and necessary for the body to function properly.  Too much fat is bad.  Dad often says, “Like almost everything in life, too much of anything is bad.”  But he points out that our bodies need fat, sodium, cholesterol, metals, and other essentials in moderate amounts to function.  In other words, we need to be balanced.

That is not to say that we only need a moderate amount of God! We should "be filled with all the fulness of God." (Eph. 3:19) My point is to not choose only love, for example, and leave out judgment. We should seek the entirety of God, which will naturally include all of the aspects of His character.

May our virtues likewise be balanced as we live in the One from whom they come.  The virtues which seem most contradictory to each other are often the ones which most fully complement and empower the other to work rightly.  We must allow God to build within us His whole nature, not just pieces, that we may “all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ...From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” (Eph. 4:13, 16)

* Beth Moore's video sessions from A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place

When "Yes" = "No"

Life is full of decisions.  From the everyday decisions such as what to eat for breakfast and how much time to spend in prayer to the major choices such as where to live and what life direction to take, decisions are inescapable.  

What I have recently realized in greater depth is that every “yes” decision I make carries with it a silent “no.”  If I say, “yes,” to spending extra time reading a book, to what am I saying, “no?”  It may be time with family, prayer, household tasks that need to be accomplished, or any number of things.  And in many cases, it is worth saying, “yes,” to one decision even at the expense of saying, “no,” to another.  Let us beware, however, of thinking that we can live our lives saying yes to everything without ever saying no.  Just like a two-sided coin, even our small decisions have unnoticed and often significant impacts.

This double-sided response is a principle deeply rooted in Scripture, as well.  Paul said, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11).  No to sin, but yes to God.  Conversely, Paul reminded us of our former sinfulness apart from Christ: “For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness” (Rom. 6:20).  Yes to sin, and no to God.  

Paul pointed out both sides of the spiritual coin.  When we say, “no,” to the flesh (i.e. crucify it), then we are responding, “yes!” to God.  Naturally, giving in even a little to the flesh quenches God’s Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19).  

My goal in writing is certainly not to imply that we are making bad decisions and saying “no” to important things all the time.  These thoughts may be convicting (they certainly are for me!) but I trust that they are hope-filled, too.  I am not always excited to refuse my flesh’s demands… until I realize that I am living a “yes” to God in doing so.

Did My Identity Disappear?

Does our identity disappear when we become fully Christ's?

That is a question I have found myself pondering lately.  After all, one is buried with Christ (Rom. 6:4).  (It seems that not much would be left after such an event!)  One is hidden in Christ (Col. 3:3). Jesus does not merely become the center of our lives; He is our Life.  (All of it.)

So the question becomes: can there be anything else in our lives?  Is it okay to enjoy something besides Jesus?  To think about other (honorable) things besides Scripture?

Paul said, "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." (Phil. 4:12)  Do we know how to be abased, possessing nothing but Christ?  It is a lovely, heaven-born gift to desire nothing but Jesus, for the soul to see no beauty but in the Savior.  Paul knew how to have nothing but Christ (Phil. 3:7-8).

Yet, Paul also knew how to abound.  Being "full" is especially trying to the soul, but Paul knew how to abound even in circumstances of plenty.  Can the creature enjoy the good gifts from the Creator while still holding foremost to the Giver of All Good Gifts (James 1:17)?  Paul could.

The gifts only become dangerous when they are more important than the One Who gave them.  A soldier knows the importance of laying aside every distraction (2 Tim. 2:4, Heb. 12:1-2).  But God not only takes pleasure in His creation; He wants us to enjoy it, too!  In Deuteronomy, when the Israelites brought their offerings to Jerusalem, they were commanded to “rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee” (Deut. 12:7).  Furthermore, God says, “And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house” (Deut. 26:11a).  

What about us?  Should we disregard the Father's gifts to us, in the myriad of ways in which they come?  Pastel sunsets.  Classical poetry.  Children’s laughter.  Music that reverberates to the core of a person.  Jokes.  The company of others.  Internet.  Food.  The gift of work.  The gift of lazy mornings.  Ballet.  Pets.  Vacations.  Beautiful things.  Silly things.  Great art.  A child's simple, bold-lined drawing.  “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:30)  Does it make any sense to do things to the glory of God but not take pleasure in them?

I began to notice a propensity within me to think that I should only say, ponder, or post things about Christ.  But I am finding that God has made this world for us to enjoy, not apart from Him, but in Him.  He is the Rock which undergirds a life given to Him.  For a Christian, He is the lens through which each piece of this world is seen, pondered, spoken, written, and enjoyed.

What is the bottom line?  Let us trust "in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy" (1 Tim. 6:17).