A Recent Newsletter:
Welcome to the Vices and Virtues Series! Our aim with this series is to help you memorize key verses related to seven common vices and their redeeming virtues. Each vice and virtue is thoughtfully paired together, and by memorizing these verses, we hope you'll develop greater self-awareness, deepen your relationship with God, encourage others, and cultivate a Christ-like life.
Throughout this series, we will explore the seven common vices and their corresponding virtues. These vices and virtues include pride and humility, anger and gentleness, lust and purity, laziness and diligence, gluttony and self-control, envy and gratitude, and greed and generosity. Each of these pairings represents a struggle that we face in our daily lives, and a corresponding virtue that we can cultivate through the help of scripture and the Spirit of God.
We believe that memorizing these verses will not only help you combat vices and cultivate virtues, but will also help you to internalize the truth and wisdom found in the Bible. By memorizing and meditating on these verses, you will be better equipped to face the challenges of life with a biblical perspective and a Christ-like attitude.
We hope that this series will be a valuable resource for you on your journey of faith, and we encourage you to commit to meditate on these verses with us and allow God's Word to transform your heart, mind, and ultimately your life.
We want to be intentional in everything we do, which is why we carefully planned out the next seven months to focus on the virtues that may be most relevant for the corresponding season of life. The following calendar provides an overview of our purpose behind our selection of each specific theme and its month.
June 2023 - Pride v. Humility
As seasons change, so does our need to surrender. Whether you’re graduating college, starting a new job, welcoming your kids home for the summer, or purchasing a new home, it’s easy to let pride creep in. Whatever new season you're entering, we want to remind you to surrender it to Christ and fight for humility!
July 2023 - Gentleness v. Anger
We think this one is important. Especially if you have kids at home. It’s the middle of the summer, the temperature is rising, the walls of your home are closing in, and your patience seems to be growing thin. Enter: Gentleness, the ingredient to peace in your family and your community.
August 2023 - Lust v. Purity
Let’s get real, real quick. The undisciplined rhythms of our summers seem to leave cracks for temptation. Especially in the area of lust and impurity. Small group time is sparse and social media scrolling time is long. Whether it’s taking a second look at the pool, or clicking through images on your phone, it breaks the heart of Jesus. We want to flee sexual temptation and run to purity by having scripture written on our hearts. Don’t entertain yourself with the things that Jesus died for.
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.” Psalm 119:9 (ESV)
September 2023 - Laziness v. Diligence
Back to the demanding responsibilities of life. Work may be feeling longer, the kids are back to starting sports, a new school semester has just begun, and your schedule is filling up. But what do you do with your free time? I once heard it said that the Christian definition for laziness is “Denying the demands of Love.” Just because you're busy, doesn’t mean you aren’t lazy. We want to remind you through the lens of God’s word to be diligent and servant hearted even when you find yourself in a season where it feels impossible to live sacrificially!
October 2023 - Gluttony v. Self Control
Oops, I just ate WAY too much puppy chow watching my favorite Netflix series. From binge eating, holiday treats, couch dinners, fasting, feasting, or fast food runs, everything we do needs to be surrendered to Christ and seen through the lens of faith. This season of life seems to come with some extra “sugar-coated” temptations. We will spend time meditating on scriptures to prepare your heart and mind to be self-controlled in the face of seemingly “justifiable” sin. What does it look like to both fast and feast?
November 2023 - Envy v. Gratitude
If this timing doesn’t make sense, the other themes probably won’t either! It’s the month of thanksgiving! Something that is hard to do, even when we have a holiday to remind us! So what does Jesus have to say about gratefulness and how does the devil tempt us away from finding freedom in it through the vice of envy?
December 2023 - Greed v. Generosity
In our final month of the Vices and Virtues series, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of the biggest consumer season of the year. As the saying goes, it is more important to give than to receive. We want to remind you of how scripture talks about money, greed, and generosity. Purposeful generosity is more than buying your kid the latest iPhone, and it has the ability to bring joy to our daily lives.
Romans 6:13 "Death to Life" (Breastplate of Righteousness - Week 2)
Romans 6:13
Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (ESV)
Dive Deeper:
At the beginning of this passage, Paul poses a question that we are all familiar with, he asks, “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?” (v.1) In the face of temptation, we might come to the conclusion that we are covered by grace and use it as an excuse to continue on in sin, but Paul says, “OF COURSE NOT! “Do not let sin control how you live; do not give in to sinful desires.” (v. 12) The entirety of this passage is interwoven with the idea of being dead to sin and alive with Christ, and it’s summed up beautifully in this week's verse. We see that two things must occur in a true disciple: death and life.
Dead to Sin
First, we die. We were all once servants of sin; our bodies were weapons of unrighteousness. We were lost and wandering. Even though we might have a perceived freedom, we were enslaved by our desires and flesh. Sin was our master, and we served it. Then, entered true freedom: Jesus. For those of us who have surrendered to the work of Christ, and as Romans 6 says, we were joined with Him, and, through baptism, were buried with Him in His death. Just as those who have passed on are physically buried, we, too, are buried with Christ and are cut off from the world and the life of sin. Sin has lost any power that it once had over us.
Alive in Christ
Secondly, we are brought to life. We are united, not only with Christ in His death but with His resurrection. Therefore, we not only leave the world but also enter back into it completely and utterly transformed. The life we once lived is the life we live no longer. We were one way, and now we are another. Christ rose Lazarus from the dead physically, but later, he died again. But, when Christ rose, He died and rose once and for all, never to die again, so that we may also live in newness of life. Our spiritual resurrection, likewise, is meant to bring us to life once and for all. (2 Cor. 4:16) We are a new creation. The old has gone, and the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17) Even though we no longer live in the grave, we must remember that our old selves must remain there.
The reason we no longer give our bodies over to sinful desires is that a disciple raised from the dead is not meant to die again. We have been brought from death to life, and so we must offer our bodies as a living sacrifice day by day. Remaining dead to sin and our previous way of life, living unto Christ, and presenting our bodies as weapons of righteousness. I love how Matthew Henry puts this. He writes, "Not only submit to him, but comply with him; not only present yourselves to him once and for all, but be always ready to serve him. Yield yourselves to him as wax to the seal, to take any impression, to be, and have, and do, what he pleases."
Written by Blake Stanley
Challenge:
Read the entirety of Romans 6 every morning this week paying close attention to the words death and life.