The Truth About Me (and You)--part two of two

Virtue. The antithesis of vice, a virtue is moral excellence; goodness; righteousness. Now if I understand righteousness properly, it's not something we can grab hold of ... not at least without some help. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:10, there is no one righteous, not even one. It's one of those things that you either are or aren't. You can't be righteous some of the time, or mostly righteous. So where does that leave us? Stuck in our immoral and evil ways?

When I allow the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 1 (read more in part one) to reflect on myself, the image I see in the mirror is one that is filthy with evil. I'm a follower of Christ, absolutely! But I have to remember who I really am, my self without Jesus. A sinner. I really don't want to be filthy. Really. In fact, I'm a bit of a clean-freak. But if the Bible is true (and I believe that it is absolutely), then there is nothing I can do to clean myself of the filth of sin. I can soak my dirty socks in a sink full of bleach and they'll never be as white as the day they came out of the package. They are stained.

So it is with us.

God created us perfectly in His image. But when obedience to God took the backseat to human will, things changed. We became stained with the guilt of sin. (This is the gist of Romans 1) I know most of us don't want to believe the truth about ourselves. That's why we often relegate the sinfulness of humanity to basically good people with bad habits. This is dangerous. When we lose touch with the truth of the depraved condition from which we've been rescued, we risk losing touch with wonder and awe and passion for God.

Let me tell you, I'm so glad that God wanted me. In the quietness of my heart I feel so inadequate and so undeserving of his love. Because honestly, when I strip off the pretensions, I know myself. I know exactly how vile and depraved and cynical I can be. I love Isaiah 1:18, which says, 18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow." It's only when I come to terms with myself as I truly am that I will listen, and then accept this LORD who wants to restore me to the store-bought white condition I came in. I mean, why would you accept help that you don't think you need, right? No thanks, I'm good.

So what's the bottom line? What's my point? It's not to go crawl into a pit of self-hatred. It's not to wallow in that dark place where you feel unloved and hated. It's simply this: to take inventory. To stand naked (metaphorically) before the mirror. To accept the truth of who you are. Because maybe, you'll begin to see your desperate need for God.

Romans 3:22 tells us righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. So to answer the earlier question, "Does our unrighteousness leave us stuck in our immoral and evil ways?", no. We're not stuck. God reached his compassionate hand down into our wickedness and pulled us up out of it. He gave his righteousness to cover our deficiency. We have to take the inventory, because if we don't realize we're stuck in the muck, we won't lift our hand to grasp His. We won't accept his help.

The attitudes that contribute to vice are born in our flesh. And they are reinforced as we grow up, especially where our modern culture's influence seems too often to drown out the voice of God. I think that is why we are encouraged to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 12:5)

Vice is our reality.

Virtue is something I think we all want.

So take hold of it! Reach out your hand to meet the hand of God and hold tight. It really is that simple.

But once you do, don't ever forget where you came from. It's passion that moves us to action.

The Truth About Me (and You)--part one of two

Vice. We all have one (perhaps more than one). And many of us have relegated them to simply 'shortcomings' or 'bad habits.' And what's worse, probably a good majority of us make excuses for them rather than attack them head-on with a plan to overcome them.

But a vice, according to Dictionarydotcom, is an immoral or evil habit or practice; depraved behavior. The Apostle Paul talks about depravity in Romans 1:28-31. He says, Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

That's quite a list. I have to pause when I see the word envy right next to murder ... or when gossips and slanderers are found in the same company as God-haters. And do you know what insolent means? Cheeky. I'd laugh, but the thought that even a little sass could be hateful to God raises my brow.

No. A vice is not a bad habit that can't be shaken, like cracking your knuckles or biting your fingernails, that has little to no effect on others. A vice is more than that. It is egocentric at its core. When I examine the words: greed, envy, strife, malice, gossip, slander, arrogant and boastful, I see common threads. They are all words describing not just behaviors, but attitudes that literally undergird the behaviors. And they all involve others ... they have devastating effects on those we do life with.

Eugene Peterson, in The Message, writes Romans 1:28-31 this way: Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!

Ouch! What jumps to mind as I read these words is mudslinging and reality television. I don't need to say more. But I'd do myself a horrible disservice if I stop there. I can't ignore that these things are alive and well in me. And daily affect my relationship with God and others.
Aside from the devastating consequences that living like this has on our ability to connect with God and love on the people around us, the Bible says that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Galatians 5:21 (TLB)

Before you skillfully point that finger at your neighbor and say, " God, I thank you that I'm not like other men (or women)," keep reading.

Wow! Radical is right!

It's been a long time, folks. Life happens. Focus shifts for a time.

I recently signed up for a program called Blogging for Books through WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers. I learned about it through a friend and being the booklover and bargain hunter that I am, couldn't pass up an opportunity for free books. So here goes. My first official book review.

Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by Pastor and Author David Platt. Not a book for the bedside table! Thought-provoking and challenging, I found myself pausing now and again to really digest it. Honestly, I was surprised to see myself on the pages of this book. I believe in the Jesus of the Bible, and I believe I live a set-apart life (mostly) but I don't think I've been faithful to preach the Jesus of the Bible... I'm guilty of saying the words "all we have to do is accept Jesus into our hearts," even while knowing that isn't the whole truth. David Platt highlights the early ministry of Jesus as he called his disciples to radical and life-altering decisions to follow him. Too often we minimize the cost of following Christ for the sake of adding numbers. This book has changed the way I see salvations happening in my ministry. No more A, B, C's ... From now on I'm talking believe and obey Jesus. We must live the life he calls us to, not some safe and comfortable and often boring version of it. Platt challenges his readers to radical sacrifice. It's about time American Christians get kicked out of the lazyboy and into the electric chair with insatiable desperation for the Good News.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.