Posts Tagged ‘ Character ’
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
Proverbs 31:30, HCSB
God is faithful. Anyone who trusts in Christ will be praised by God at the end. This is true for the Church and for every child, man, and woman within Her.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal”
Matthew 6:19, ESV
God’s commands are based on His nature and our good, and the best thing for us is to seek God and His ways. When we are His, we have hope and eternal security.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.
Psalm 107:13-14, ESV
God’s commandments are based on His nature and for our good, shining the light of His goodness into our world. We obey to show our love for the freedom He gives us and to spread His light in our dark world.
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11, ESV
God’s Law is based on His character, who He is. When we truly take in His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit, it will change our character, our inner-selves, to be more like our holy and righteous God.
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
Proverbs 31:25-26, ESV
Not just women, but all in Christ’s Church, are clothed in Christ, giving us hope, strength, and kindness toward others, knowing He has dome the same for us.
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Proverbs 31:30, ESV
The Church is not supposed to be merely a place of entertainment and feel-good messages. The Church is the Bride of Christ who draws others to herself by her devotion to and worship of God our Savior.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5, ESV
We need not fear what this life does to us, for we know that as we pursue Him, God uses our circumstances to make us more like Jesus, living inside us by the Holy Spirit who gives us the hope of eternal life free from sin and pain.
Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
Isaiah 40:13-14, ESV
At Advent, we look back at why Jesus had to come, that He came, and then that He will come again.
Our sins have stacked up to heaven, deeper and more vile than we could know.
Sin is rebellion against the character of God.
And we think we can tell God what is good? What justice and goodness are? That we know better what God’s character and will are?
Who do we think we are? Why do we think we understand God’s creation and character better than He does when He has revealed it through HisbWord by His prophets and apostles?
And this is what the prophets, including John the Baptist, were telling us.
“Repent! Stop your foolish thinking, and turn from your sin! The kingdom of God is at hand, and you think you can judge your Creator? Prepare for His coming, now!”
But we still try to justify our sin, correct God on His justice, and fix His revelation.
We therefore prepare ourselves by admitting we don’t understand as much as we think we do, turning to the Word and trusting the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of Christ to us.
May we seek the Lord who took on the just punishment we deserved, preparing ourselves by seeking His revelation.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5, ESV
The Holy Spirit empowers us to endure suffering, knowing it is making us more Christ-like, like the One who suffered for us, that we may proclaim Christ all the more.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5, ESV
God wants us to rely on Him, that we could do more than we know. Growing stronger in Christ conforms us ever more to His likeness, and our hope and love grows.
a simple man of God 