Wear Red as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, and Monday is Memorial Day

A Virtuous Life 

Faith Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I continue to give thanks to our gracious God for putting you all in our lives. Your faithfulness and your enthusiasm fills my heart with joy and helps complete my hope in Christ. Every day, I look forward to serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ alongside each of you and growing in our discipleship journey together. I pray as God has continued blessings us, may we continue to be a blessing to others.

I was listening to my devotion today from the “Glorify” app, and it talked about what is and is not a virtuous life. It is based upon the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Colossus (Colossians 3:1-5). Today, let us talk about this virtuous life. I was watching a movie the other day called “Fountain of Youth.”  It was a action/adventure movie about a man who was searching for the fountain of youth. One of the clues to finding the fountain was in a Bible called the “Wicked Bible” because there were certain words left off the Ten Commandments. In stead of “thou shalt not” the verse read “Thou shalt.” No, this doesn’t really exist, but it made for an intriguing movie. We live in a society where it seems like too many people are reading from the Wicked Bible instead of the Holy Bible.

The Apostle Paul gives us the ingredients to a virtuous life: “Set your hearts on things above where Christ is. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” When we spend most of our time focusing our hearts and minds on earthly things we tend to act earthly. When we set our minds and hearts on Heavenly things, we tend to act more holy. That is exactly what God wants from us – to be holy as He is holy. Not holier than thou – thinking or acting like we are better than others but instead reflecting the character of God. The devotion mentioned a familiar principle: Your thoughts become your words; your words become your actions; your actions become your habits; and your habits become your character.

When we focus our hearts and minds towards Christ, our thoughts become more Christlike. Which leads to our words becoming more affirming, loving, encouraging. Which then leads us to act more like Christ. The more we act like Christ, the more it becomes a way of life (habit). Which then builds our character to be more holy than earthly. It isn’t easy, but Jesus never promised easy. We may have to ask for forgiveness on occasion, or in my case regularly, but that forgiveness helps us to recapture the focus on Christ.

I look forward in joining together as co-workers with Christ as we do what we can to let the community know that God is alive, Jesus loves them, and the Holy Spirit wants to transform them. It takes a life of virtue to reflect Christ for the world.

Have a blessed Week!

Pastor Frank