“As for me, I
will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your
likeness.
Psalm 17:15
I
often think about this Psalm and I say to myself,” Ron what is a value driven
intimacy with God? What does that look like? And what are the character
qualities that every Christian person possess or need to work on?
The
apostle Paul exhorts Christians to “walk by faith and not by sight” 2
Corinthians 5:7 What Paul helps me see here is a contrast between truth and
perception- “what we know, believe to be true and what we perceive to be true” with
the two separate Kingdoms in mind (Law and Gospel). This is where I, as a Christian
use to struggle, with a lack of faith finding my basis, separating the two. How
about You? For me the main reason why I had a hard time with faith was my
perceptions of truth being blinded by the secular world as I try to absorb the
word of God; by many confusion types of “SWOT” a
business concept (a simple framework evaluation used by business
that help them look at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that they
face). But I applied it to my spiritual life of Faith.
First of all, Faith
is not belief without Proof. We should reject that notion. Rather Faith is
complete trust confidence, it is Faith-based, Faith in God and his Son, Jesus
Christ. Despite this we as Christians still struggle with believing the
biblical accounts of scriptures (like as we study Job) because it doesn’t
matchup with our perception of “Google” this justice reality needed in this
first kingdom world of the left. Think about it, in our daily world it’s hard
to trust a stranger.
O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on
your holy
hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his
heart; who does not slander with his tongue and
does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach
against his friend; in whose eyes a vile
person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord who swears to his own
hurt and does not change; who does not put out his
money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. Psalm
15:1-5
Psalm 15 finishes us with a list of many of the necessary traits.
David is trying to describe a righteous man who walks with integrity and gains
not only the respect of others but also the audience with God. So, what drives
your Values and ethics? What is your picture of a godly Person?
Just recently, I overheard a
fellow Christian say this about me after I invited him to another bible study,
“He acts the same there as he does here” In the first Kingdom my reaction could
have been negative with the law in mind only but because I want to hold on to the
Habits of Grace with a mindset of Intimacy
with God My Reflection for you and myself are:
Define your identity, “who do you/I belong to”.
If there are any discrepancies in what God says about you, replace them with
the truth and Purpose. Live loved. Live out those words for you and the world
to see and enjoy! You are His beloved! Second, develop a strong core of all
these values. Spend time with God in the Word daily, applying all He speaks to
your personal life with questions. Let integrity be worked through and through
that is honest and trustworthy, reflecting God in your words, choices, and
responses. Serve others in humility, bending low and lifting up one another’s
with the essence of a strong love not gossip. Third, declare your vision
mission. Write out your vision statement that you believe God gave to you when
He created you and then list the ways you desire to walk out in mission of that
vision statement:
“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny
themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me”. Luke 9:23
God Bless
You and This Ministry!
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