“And Every Virtue We Possess” 12-30-2010

December 30th, 2010 by JDVaughn Leave a reply »

“And Every Virtue We Possess”

December 30, 2010
. . . All my springs are in you —Psalm 87:7

Our Lord never “patches up” our natural virtues, that is, our natural traits, qualities, or characteristics. He completely remakes a person on the inside— “. . . put on the new man . . .” (Ephesians 4:24). In other words, see that your natural human life is putting on all that is in keeping with the new life. The life God places within us develops its own new virtues, not the virtues of the seed of Adam, but of Jesus Christ. Once God has begun the process of sanctification in your life, watch and see how God causes your confidence in your own natural virtues and power to wither away. He will continue until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through this drying-up experience!

The sign that God is at work in us is that He is destroying our confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but only a wasted reminder of what God created man to be. We want to cling to our natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us in contact with the life of Jesus Christ— a life that can never be described in terms of natural virtues. It is the saddest thing to see people who are trying to serve God depending on that which the grace of God never gave them. They are depending solely on what they have by virtue of heredity. God does not take our natural virtues and transform them, because our natural virtues could never even come close to what Jesus Christ wants. No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands. But as we bring every part of our natural bodily life into harmony with the new life God has placed within us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that were characteristic of the Lord Jesus.

And every virtue we possess
Is His alone.

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December 30, 2010

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

I heard from a believer today that people were “fleeing” her church. She said her pastor has started telling the congregation that it was his job to dispense harsh messages and if they left feeling guilty it was probably because they were doing something that was wrong. He was pointing out the right way they should live, and if they were not living according to the Bible preaching he was delivering ….then it was alright with him if they got angry and left the church. Since their pastor has been on this tack, about 6-7 months, the parishioners have been fleeing services and attendance has been falling dramatically. How can I help? How can I help the pastor and what can I tell the members of the church that come to me with questions?

And God says…” It is not unusual for God seekers to fall into the trap of the Pharisees and forget the most important commandments of Jesus; love your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. When you follow these commandments God can change you from the inside out. The “trying to be good for God” changes into “being in a relationship that manifests itself by a transformation over time”.

 “You cannot help the pastor; you cannot help him see he is driving away his parishioners by telling them they must live under the law. But you can be available to share the message of love, grace and transformation as it applies to your life and experience. You can be available to share your experience and remind people that any and every virtue you posses is  because of the completed work of Christ. And although His work is completed, He is still working out the completion in you… and it is His work, not yours.

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