4 Qualifications of Character

We wake in anticipation of a well-planned day.  Organized. Well thought-out. Structured in the most methodical way.

Then a visit to an Aunt, laying sick.  Weak. …about to see Jesus.

But when we rise.  Husband sick…..Really sick.  Second time in twenty years sick.

Kids and I venture out.  To church alone.

And we hear.  Young preacher.  Lover of Jesus. Immigrant. Came here at eight, undetected…from Mexico.  And I think…. 

Doesn’t matter that he wasn’t saved until eighteen, or legal or an immigrant…..

And I think of all the ways we flaunt righteousness.  Church going. Dress showing. Bible toeing. Jesus professing….

And I hear from the pulpit… 

And I know it’s true…

God speaks through this Spanish speaking twenty-something….untainted by old men religious views.

Then, at Aunts.  Talk of her heading home soon.  I think of her life.  And see….She wasn’t a Bible thumper…driving with bumper stickers….announcing every thought with judgment kind of Christian.

And I hear….the echoing of what the preacher just said….

Then, I come home.  Finally.  Servant Husband still sick.

Pampering….

And I open The Book randomly, haphazardly and it reads… 

Jonah had the name and did the calling…..But the heart of Ninevah was far more esteemed because they Repented…Revering…The Only One Worthy.

And I continue…

…..A reflection of the pastors speech.

And I think again…

How many ways do we seek godliness?  Righteousness?  Holiness?

Works?  Giving? Appearing Holy on the outside?

Yet, in this….like the Pharisees….don’t we just become white washed tombs?

And I see how much easier it is….to pursue acts, works, duty of men…..to show that we are holy…

Than to transform on the inside by the power of His redemptive glory.

And though transforming isn’t our work, but His work in us….

And I suck up my pride. And my righteous justification.  And I embrace these words for me today.

These fruits of righteousness.

And I pray…

God.  I give myself away….

Not for me.  Not for others. Not for any temporal gain.

And I wrap myself around His truth……Like a child clinging to a parent with separation anxiety.

And I say…

And I go upstairs to tend husband.

Bringing him, 7up.