Transforming Character Defects Through God's Grace

"Those afflicted by this Vice, wrote Aquinas, shrink back from all God has called them to be. When faced with the effort and difficulty of stretching themselves to the great things of which they are capable, they cringe and say, 'I can't.' In short, they rely on their own puny powers and focus on their own potential for failure rather than counting on God's grace to equip them for great work in his kingdom, work beyond anything they might have dreamed for themselves." [00:02:08]

"The Biblical Portrait of Moses presented inspiring evidence that God's power and Grace can transform even or especially the weakest and most fearful of us. Moses's pusillanimity did not have the last word in his life. God did. It's a bit ironic, she goes on to say, that this Vice and the discovery of it actually was liberating to her." [00:03:39]

"A vice or its counterpart of virtue, first of all, is a habit or a character trait. Defects of character, unlike something we're born with, such as an outgoing personality or a predisposition to have high cholesterol levels, virtues and vices are acquired moral qualities. We can cultivate habits or break them down over time through our repeated actions, and thus we are ultimately responsible for our character." [00:04:56]

"I am not just the pawn of my genetic predispositions and my parents and teachers and boss and so on. I make decisions. I make choices, and they get hardened, and they become habits, and my habits become my character. And that actually is the most important force in our lives." [00:06:21]

"Therefore, you must put to death or put aside or take off anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language from your lips. Stop lying to one another. Again, just in the field of Vice, there was a Christian Psychologist who died a few decades ago, William Bakus, and he wrote in his book 'Telling Ourselves the Truth,' the average person lies, deceives, body language, and so on 200 times a day." [00:07:14]

"Clothe yourselves with gentleness, kindness, compassion, and so on. So that's the invitation. So I want to read for you some Character defects. If you've been kind of going on this journey, beginning to think about or even entering into the steps, you might be getting a sense of this, but as I read through this list, just think what would be three or four Character defects that you most struggle with." [00:08:39]

"The invitation is to put those off. Now, that doesn't mean just start working harder at stuff. The invitation for the day will just be to have open eyes and take a look. But here's what's really important: we don't want to just have things removed. We want to enter into a new way of living. We want to put something on." [00:10:08]

"In the end, both virtues and vices are habits that eventually become natural to us. Philosophers describe the perfect achievement of virtue as yielding internal Harmony and integrity. You might think about the phrase 'second nature,' something that's either a good thing of virtue or a horrible thing of vice can become second nature. It feels natural; it looks natural." [00:10:31]

"While we can give her moral credit for her efforts, Jane's faithfulness stays on the surface. It is the uncomfortable voice of conscience countering her adulterous inclinations and keeping her actions in check. By contrast, Joe's desires are in harmony with his considered judgment. Who wouldn't rather have a spouse with Joe's Fidelity than Jane's self-control?" [00:11:43]

"We want to be people and we want to be with people who are not just white-knuckling, battling desire—that's what they would always want—but become people who actually want to be loving and to be joyful and to be faithful and to have integrity and to be truthful. That's what we want." [00:12:22]

"The invitation today is just to have eyes wide open. Don't try to be any better; don't try any harder. Just take a look. God, would you help me to see what are those Character defects in me that damage my relationships with other people, that keep me away from you, that bring misery into my life? Help me to see them clearly and see them as you do." [00:12:48]

"We're on the road. We're going to take them off. We're going to put something better on. Keep coming back. It works if you work it." [00:13:30]