My faith isn't the idea that I am more moral than anyone else. My faith is in the idea that God and His love are greater than whatever sins any of us commit.

Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (KJV)

Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these kinds of things." (ERV)

Galatians 5:22-23, " But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely." (The Message) 


Goodness.

Goodness is described as, "moral excellence; virtue, the best part of anything, essence, strength." 

The best part of anything. Moral excellence. Virtuous.

Now, the first thing I want to say is this: God isn't calling us to perfection. That is unattainable as a human being. We are going to make mistakes. We are going to lack patience some days. We are going to get scared. We are going to be angry. We aren't going to make the best decisions some days.

Rich Mullins once stated, "I would rather live on the verge of falling and let my security be in the sufficiency of the Grace of God than to live in some kind of pietistic [devout fulfillment of religious obligations] illusion of moral excellence. My faith isn't the idea that I am more moral than anyone else. My faith is in the idea that God and His love are greater than whatever sins any of us commit."

God isn't calling us to perfection.
He isn't calling us to religious obligations that do not change us from the inside out.
He's calling us to purpose- living every moment with purpose, speaking every word with purpose. 

True Goodness.

God doesn't want an act. He doesn't want us pretending. He would rather see someone trying and failing when it comes to moral excellence than to see someone acting in public, and deceiving behind closed doors.

In the New Testament,  the authors write about the Scribes and Pharisees. These were individuals Jesus asked us not to pattern our lives after.

In Matthew 23, Matthew writes, "Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men:"

All their works they do to be seen of men.

God called us to be good- have moral excellence- be virtuous- be the best part, best version of ourselves. But He called us to do this behind closed doors as well as in public. This is true goodness. This is true character.

Character vs. Reputation. You CAN Change.

I'll be honest with you here.

I haven't had the best character. I haven't chosen moral excellence. And I mostly definitely probably haven't had the best reputation.

Thankfully, Jesus can fix my character and my morals-- through His Spirit.

AJ Perez stated, "I'll take character over reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are." 

If we work on our character-- over time, reputation will follow.

"Character is how you treat those who can do nothing for you." 
"The things you say about others says a lot about you."
"No matter how educated, rich, talented, or cool you believe you are, how you treat people ultimately tells all. Integrity [and character] are everything."

Our first responsibility is working on our character- at home and with others.

I've probably damaged my character more times than I can count which has in turn damaged my reputation. Fixing both takes work. Sometimes fixing your character will not fix your reputation immediately- but keep working at it. God will honor that.

Godly Character.

Matthew 23:25-26 states, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also."

The inside- your soul, your spirit- we must get that cleaned first. The rest will follow. 

The Pharisees only worried about their outside appearance. How they looked to others. How they appeared to those that mattered. They didn't care that inside they were still dirty and full of extortion. God doesn't care how cleaned up you look on the outside if you are still dirty on the inside.

He longs for us to have His character.

Generous, light-hearted, wise, trustworthy, dependent on God, honest, patient, modest, truthful, confident, loving, compassionate. 

And if you think you are too far gone for Him to ever help you change your ways, I promise..... you aren't.

Natalie Grant wrote a beautiful song called 'Clean' and I listen to it at least once a day to remind me (and to hush the devil when he tells me I've done too much to ever be used by God)..

"I see shattered
You see whole
I see broken
But You see beautiful
And You're helping me to believe
You're restoring me piece by piece

There's nothing too dirty that You can't make worthy
You wash me in mercy
I am clean
There's nothing too dirty that You can't make worthy
You wash me in mercy
I am clean

You're never too far gone for Him to pull you back and help you heal your soul. Trust me, if He can have mercy on me-- He can do it for anyone. He can help you change your character-- change your ways. He can heal your past. He can mend the wounds. He can do it all... if you let Him.

It doesn't matter what people speak of you right now-- He can fix it.

It doesn't matter what you have done in your past--- He can heal it.

It doesn't matter how far you've gone-- He can call you back.

He is calling you to a life of goodness. 

A life of purpose.

We just have to answer that call.