New Year Plans: How Can You Exhibit Your Best Personality Traits?

For many people, celebrating Christmas will be extended for several days simply because family and friends continue to make contact to express their love and appreciation. Exchanging gifts is just one way to demonstrate appreciation and happiness. Making an effort to be physically present validates the strength of our love for others.

Coming together tests the positive and negative strength of attachments. Whether you are the invited guest or serving as host for others, there are always underlying expectations that must be acknowledged and adhered to if stress and potential conflict are to be kept to a minimum.

To make the best of a holiday visit, always exhibit your best personality traits the Lord God endowed you with at conception. Believe you can action yourself into a new way of feeling as you demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit, like love, joy and patience. God bestows these on you so you can be a blessing to others.   

      

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So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. …And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

~Colossians 3:12,14 The Message

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God's Christmas Gift: Reconciliation

Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus is the Prince of Peace?  Think about this verse as you celebrate his birth on this Christmas Day: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Thanks be to God, for he refuses to keep a record of our offenses against us, but committed to us the wonderful ministry of reconciliation.”  

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, gives you his gift of peace, and through that gift of peace you become eligible to receive his gifts of love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So count yourself most fortunate and privileged. Merry Christmas and God bless you!   

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The angel reassured them, “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “ I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior – yes, the Messiah, the Lord – has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others – the armies of heaven – praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

~Luke 2:10-14 New Living Translation

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From Wednesday, December 21 through Christmas Day, blogs have been posted each day to coincide with KHCB radio's special music and short devotional programming, "Five Days of Christmas". 

Pathway to Patience

God's word describes patience as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. A Fruit of the Spirit is a character trait or a virtue at work in us to produce good works. When we determine to walk with God, to know and love him, then the Holy Spirit produces in us patience as well as other godly virtues.

It appears that Samson lacked the virtue of patience, so changing his response to problems created by his passions and pride seemed unlikely. Patience builds up character and stifles anger, while subduing pride. Samson did not desire to wait on the Lord for guidance and direction but acted impulsively, plunging headlong into behaviors prompted by his passions.

Passion and pride have little tolerance for patience, which is indicative of a reluctance to permit the Holy Spirit to change us. Wisdom is required for insight, and God is willing give us wisdom when we sincerely seek it. Wisdom is the pathway to patience, so ask God to give you wisdom which provides tolerance for controlling impulsivity.  

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We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding…We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy.

~Colossians 1:9,11 New Living Translation

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Goodness and Forgiveness: Lost Virtues?

Aristotle named four virtues that promote goodness: courage, justice, self-control, and wisdom. To these four add forgiveness. Have goodness and forgiveness lost their place in our society? A virtue should reflect goodness, integrity, righteousness and honesty. Galatians 5:22 ranked goodness as a Fruit of the Holy Spirit.

We've heard of people being characterized as having a good heart. The attribute of goodness is intimately connected to a person who also practices forgiveness. This person refuses to hold on to a grudge or keep a lists of wrongs that have been endured. Whoever possesses goodness will consequently practice forgiveness.

Goodness as an attribute of personality will balance what matters for the moment with what matters for the future. The virtues of goodness and forgiveness are given importance by remembering it is by God’s goodness and mercy and the righteousness of Christ Jesus that we have purpose and significance for living this life.  

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Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me perfectly good? No one is perfectly good but God himself.”

~Luke 18:19 Williams – New Testament in the Language of the People

God planned for us to do good things and to live as he has always wanted us to live. That’s why he sent Christ to make us what we are.

~Ephesians 2:10 Contemporary English Version

Love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong.
~1 Corinthians 13:5 The Living Bible

Create Jealousy: Mission Accomplished

The fact that jealousy distorts reality is well known by those whose objective is to make others feel its pain. A woman confided to her friend, “If I want my husband to get in line, all I have to do is make him jealous.” Deliberately creating jealousy is dishonest and seldom achieves a worthy goal. Deliberately creating jealousy is also sinful.

 

There’s always danger of going too far in creating jealousy. Anyone deliberately made to feel jealous will know the pain of abandonment and distrust. Distrust eventually causes love to diminish and lose its power to control. Eventually jealousy leads to revenge and permanent withdrawal from a relationship; then grief comes to all involved.

A college student recounted how she lost her boyfriend when she made him feel jealous. "All I wanted to do was make sure he loved me. Now he will not let me apologize or forgive me." Jealousy is not kind, gentle or patient. It is not filled with joy, long-suffering or self-control, but God’s love and true love include all of these. 

Distorted Reality

Jealousy distorts the way we think, feel and believe. When David killed Goliath, Saul the king appointed him to a high position in the army. As David continued to prove himself in battle and the people began to sing his praises, Saul believed David was after his kingdom. Prompted by jealousy, Saul tried to kill him on several occasions.

As Saul’s thinking patterns became distorted by jealousy, David became his enemy instead of a faithful servant who loved and honored him. Resentment allied with jealousy made it possible for the king’s mind to distort just about everything in his world. Resentment is closely related to fear, and fear adds fuel to the fire of jealousy.

Saul failed to understand that he could be loved and respected on his own merits. Galatians 5:22 encourages us to permit the Holy Spirit to diminish the impact of jealousy. The Holy Spirit's power produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Why not yield to that power now?  

The Power of Letting Go

A young woman told how her former boyfriend threatened to harm her and himself if she did not comply with his wish to continue the relationship. He felt out of control, disconnected and desperate. Unfortunately, threatening behaviors build a bridge to dismantling trust, respect, and confidence.

It’s important to accept that total control over another person is impossible. Attempts to control others are built on a foundation of fear and ultimately build a bridge to desperation. God did not create robots to be ruled over by a dictator. He intended for self-control and freedom to expand as maturity and good judgement evolve.

 

What’s involved in letting go of unhealthy, unnecessary control? It requires trust and confidence in others and the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ in you produces love, joy, peace and self-control while reducing fear, anxiety and worry. These virtues of the Holy Spirit build a bridge to security which diminishes the need for unhealthy control.