Christian Character Matters
Making choices… how do I spend my time? My money? My energy? Where do I go in my thought life? What do I worry about? What and whom do I love? What gets me excited? Hopeful? What makes me laugh, or cry?
Who am I – and who do I want to be? There are so many questions which govern our daily choices… and we’d be exhausted if we thought about them all, all the time. And so the habits we form, the character we develop is critical in how we live our lives. I have just finished reading, “After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters” by NT Wright. It is an excellent and inspiring read.
Amongst other things, he urges Christians to pursue justice, beauty and freedom. He calls us to be people who cultivate the fruit of the Spirit, which come both by infusion and acquisition, commenting that self-discipline is listed in the fruit! And he reminds us to pursue the four virtues: humility, patience, chastity and charity (love).
Growing in these areas is done both individually and corporately – and we want to be a church crammed with character-full individuals, whilst recognizing that we need each other in order to grow. Two ways of developing character are praying together and serving together – and opportunities for both of these are available at Restoration. This weekend, for example, you could:
- Join others to pray for justice and freedom for others tomorrow morning at the Grays’ house (8:45-10am, 4318 39th St N, Arlington, VA 222207), or
- You could serve at A-SPAN with Mitch Wallin on Sunday evening (mtwallin[at]gmail[dot]com), or
- You could sign up to go on the W VA trip at the end of June, or
- You could come and pray with others at the prayer workshop at the Grays’ house on Monday evening at 7:30pm.
Think about how you are going to work on your character this week… and make some choices! Not necessarily to do any of the above – but to do something. Anything which makes you more like Jesus.
– Liz Gray, Seminarian.