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Christian Virtues

By Glenn Davis

How are Christians to live in this current world? What are the Christian virtues, and how are we to obtain them? We want our lives to please God, but we often fall short. [Let's be honest!] We see our faults, and our Christian virtues seem slim.

The first thing we have to realize is that if we have accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour, God is already pleased with us. We live under His smile. We do not earn our salvation, and we do not work to keep it. It is a gift of the grace of God made possible by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You and I are already pleasing to God. He sees us through the perfection of Jesus, not the imperfections of our life. We can always come boldly and lovingly into His presence. We have nothing to fear from our loving Father. [See our Master Life Series for an explanation of how law, grace, and love work together.]

Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help. Heb. 4:14-16 The Message

On the other hand, the Christian life is not one of a careless attitude toward sin. We are not to drift along wherever the current of the world may take us. We are commanded, yes - commanded, to war against sin and to work at adding Christian virtues to our lives.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:3-11

This is not working for salvation. This is following the natural progression of salvation. We are like babies born into a new world. We often start with very little, but as we grow to love and obey God, we develop Godly attitudes and actions. The Christian life is a process. We are all moving toward the goal of becoming Christ-like. It is a goal we can never perfectly fulfill, but over time we should be coming closer and closer.

Gaining Christian virtues in our lives is not something we have to accomplish in our own strength. That is legalism, and it always leads to frustration and death. In reality, our Christian life is a partnership with God to accomplish the overall goal of developing Christian virtues in our lives. As we work with the Holy Spirit, we do not come under condemnation for our failures; instead, we grow in our love and knowledge of Jesus Christ and who we truly are in Him.  But we have to work. We have to apply ourselves.  As we do, the Holy Spirit in us will lead us to success over time. Some virtues may seem to come easily; others with great struggle, but either way, we press on.

Christian Virtues

The articles below cover different aspects of this topic.  Read them in any order you like.  Explore and learn.  We grow like Jesus as we learn about His ways and follow His commands.  Note: These articles are moving to other areas of this site until this is a stand-alone article.

Attitude Of Servants

Three Religious Outcasts Of Great Faith

Poems About Trust

Poems About Courage

Poems About Mercy

Poems About Peace

Poems About Praise

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