James 2:14 & 17
How does this man show his love for God? Can you see his love for God evidenced through his actions? Does he have an actual relationship with God?
Living worldly is living like the world does. Its standard is based on people’s experiences, opinions, and thoughts. While living godly is living godlike that put the standard on what God says. God says we can’t live in both.
Characteristics of worldly believers, friends of the world. Abraham is pictured as a friend of God in Genesis 18 Jas 2:23, in Genesis 19, Lot is pictured as a friend of the world Jas 4:4.
The characteristics of a worldly person, Gal. 5: 19-21
While worldly often describes individuals who think they are so sophisticated and well-rounded in education, travel, and experiences, it’s also used for people who are rooted in the world or focused on physical and material things around them, rather than on spiritual matters.
The characteristics of a godly character? Gal. 5: 22-25
1 John 4:20 Godly character isn’t something that we earn from God. It’s what God does to us, the process of transformation in us when God gets a hold of us. The definition of the word “character,” as we are using it today is “The moral qualities of an individual.
Loving others is another way we show our love for God.
At church, how does he love others? Does he serve on a volunteer team?
How does he act with strangers? Waiters at restaurants. Is he polite and considerate to others around him?
According to Scripture, Christian character includes the pursuit of truth, godliness, righteousness, love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, patience, perseverance, meekness, humility, self-control, compassion, thankfulness, forgiveness, contentment, and unity. Rightness character is formed by one’s actions. The habits, actions, and emotional responses of the person of good character all are united and directed toward the moral and the good. Because human beings are body/soul unities, actions of the body are actions of the self, that is, human beings are self-possessing, self-governing, and self-determining. In order to be of good character, one must know the good, act in morally good ways, and be disposed and inclined toward the good through the development of virtues. Character and action are intertwined so intimately that one’s professional duties, or even what is perceived by others as one’s duties, cannot override one’s conscience without negatively affecting (and changing) one’s character. For the physician to be of good character, it is vital that he or she follow his or her conscience in all things: in private life and also in his or her profession, in the treatment of patients.
The difference between good character and bad character. So far, we have seen that one’s actions reflect one’s character, and they also form one’s character. Consequently, the rights and wrongs of one’s actions also reflect and form one’s character. Good moral actions come from a good character and form a good character. Bad moral actions come from and form a bad character.
Character cannot be separated from the person. To be of good character means that one’s habits, actions, and emotional responses all are united and directed toward the moral and the good. In this, public actions cannot be separated from private actions. Both sets of actions affect one’s character.
Ultimately, the difference lies in the question of authority. The Bible asserts that God sets the standard about what’s real, true, and lasting; the worldly perspective says that each of us gets to make up our own standards. By the way, worldly values can often be cleverly wrapped up in Christian terms, so be aware. Yes, Scripture testifies that some true believers will still be friends of the world and spiritual adulterers James 4:4. Just as some will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and some will be called least in the kingdom Matt 5:19, missing God’s best.
WHOSOEVER WILL WORSHIP MINISTRIES
Assoc: Pastor Wesley Fulton
429 Bayou Rd, La Marque, Tx.77568 Need prayer Ch. Ph: 409/933-9878
