Joyful Living Devotional - Day 6
Day 6 – Character that Glorifies the Father
Philippians 1:11(NLT) May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
As Paul continues his prayer for the Philippians, he delves deeper into the beautiful reality of what it means to live a fully transformed life. This one verse packs a spiritual punch that will make our flesh stagger and bring us into the reality of a life lived for God’s glory! He prays that they would always be filled with the fruit of their salvation. He leaves no room for guesswork about what that means. The fruit of our salvation is righteous character.
This righteous character is not produced from a self-righteous action of being good or trying to be good; it is produced by being submitted to Christ Jesus. The fruit of salvation is righteous character formed by Jesus in the good and the bad of life. Godly character is not about trying harder, being more religious, rigid, or narrow-minded. It is about being formed through the power of the Holy Spirit into the beautiful image of Jesus.
Without devotion to Christ, there cannot be a display of the character of Jesus. We cannot separate devotion from formation. The more we walk with Jesus, fellowship with the Heavenly Father, and walk in His Spirit, the more we will display and produce His righteous fruit.
“The expression of Christian character is not good doing, but God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit Divine characteristics in your life, not good human characteristics. God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not as human life trying to be godly.” – Oswald Chambers
The fruit of our salvation is that our character is being transformed by Jesus so that our lives bring glory, honor, and praise to God. Our character matters! It matters because righteous character glorifies our Father. How is your character? Who are you when no one is around? Are you the same person regardless of who surrounds you, or does the company dictate your behavior?
If your language, behavior, and responses change with the crowd, you need to grow in character. The beautiful thing about righteous character is that it is the fruit of our salvation. In other words, having character should come supernaturally naturally to us who say we believe. Fruit is a natural result of the type of tree that was planted. Orange trees produce oranges and are not concerned with producing apples, because they grow from an orange seed. We are born again by God’s incorruptible seed, and righteous character is the fruit of our salvation.
Ephesians 5:8-12(NIV) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
We are exhorted by Paul to have nothing to do with fruitless works of darkness because we are children of the light in the Lord. This light is reflected in a display of Godly characteristics such as goodness, righteousness, and truth.
Why is this so important? Because it gives us moral authority. Don’t confuse moral authority with legalistic moral superiority. (I am better than you because I don’t do what you do.) Moral authority simply gives us the right to speak into the lives of others. How can we tell others about something we don’t live ourselves?
Character matters because it glorifies God and gives us the confidence to share the good news with others. Stop waiting for big moments to display Godly character. Character is not a destination to reach, it is a process to embrace. Allow the Holy Spirit to grind away anything in you that does not look like Jesus or represent Him well. Where does He do this? In the secret place of prayer and in the public space of ordinary life. Our character is shaped by every decision we make and every prayer we pray. We don’t just pray, “Lord, give me…”; we pray, “Lord, make me…”.
We are being formed when we choose to display goodness instead of indifference, to walk in righteousness instead of compromise, and to live in the power of truth instead of embracing a lie. The evidence of character shaped by Christ is not becoming more religious and more miserable. It is the complete opposite. It is demonstrating the incomparable joy of Jesus!
How is your character? Your joy might just be the gauge you need to check.
“The test of Christian character should be that a man is a joy-bearing agent to the world.” - Henry Ward Beecher
Prayer:
Philippians 1:11(NLT) May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
As Paul continues his prayer for the Philippians, he delves deeper into the beautiful reality of what it means to live a fully transformed life. This one verse packs a spiritual punch that will make our flesh stagger and bring us into the reality of a life lived for God’s glory! He prays that they would always be filled with the fruit of their salvation. He leaves no room for guesswork about what that means. The fruit of our salvation is righteous character.
This righteous character is not produced from a self-righteous action of being good or trying to be good; it is produced by being submitted to Christ Jesus. The fruit of salvation is righteous character formed by Jesus in the good and the bad of life. Godly character is not about trying harder, being more religious, rigid, or narrow-minded. It is about being formed through the power of the Holy Spirit into the beautiful image of Jesus.
Without devotion to Christ, there cannot be a display of the character of Jesus. We cannot separate devotion from formation. The more we walk with Jesus, fellowship with the Heavenly Father, and walk in His Spirit, the more we will display and produce His righteous fruit.
“The expression of Christian character is not good doing, but God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit Divine characteristics in your life, not good human characteristics. God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not as human life trying to be godly.” – Oswald Chambers
The fruit of our salvation is that our character is being transformed by Jesus so that our lives bring glory, honor, and praise to God. Our character matters! It matters because righteous character glorifies our Father. How is your character? Who are you when no one is around? Are you the same person regardless of who surrounds you, or does the company dictate your behavior?
If your language, behavior, and responses change with the crowd, you need to grow in character. The beautiful thing about righteous character is that it is the fruit of our salvation. In other words, having character should come supernaturally naturally to us who say we believe. Fruit is a natural result of the type of tree that was planted. Orange trees produce oranges and are not concerned with producing apples, because they grow from an orange seed. We are born again by God’s incorruptible seed, and righteous character is the fruit of our salvation.
Ephesians 5:8-12(NIV) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
We are exhorted by Paul to have nothing to do with fruitless works of darkness because we are children of the light in the Lord. This light is reflected in a display of Godly characteristics such as goodness, righteousness, and truth.
Why is this so important? Because it gives us moral authority. Don’t confuse moral authority with legalistic moral superiority. (I am better than you because I don’t do what you do.) Moral authority simply gives us the right to speak into the lives of others. How can we tell others about something we don’t live ourselves?
Character matters because it glorifies God and gives us the confidence to share the good news with others. Stop waiting for big moments to display Godly character. Character is not a destination to reach, it is a process to embrace. Allow the Holy Spirit to grind away anything in you that does not look like Jesus or represent Him well. Where does He do this? In the secret place of prayer and in the public space of ordinary life. Our character is shaped by every decision we make and every prayer we pray. We don’t just pray, “Lord, give me…”; we pray, “Lord, make me…”.
We are being formed when we choose to display goodness instead of indifference, to walk in righteousness instead of compromise, and to live in the power of truth instead of embracing a lie. The evidence of character shaped by Christ is not becoming more religious and more miserable. It is the complete opposite. It is demonstrating the incomparable joy of Jesus!
How is your character? Your joy might just be the gauge you need to check.
“The test of Christian character should be that a man is a joy-bearing agent to the world.” - Henry Ward Beecher
Prayer:
- Pray: “Lord, I know that character matters. You have called me to represent You, and I want to represent You well. I belong to You, and I pray that Christ be formed in me. Help me shine Your light in a world that walks in darkness and embraces it. Help me rely on the Holy Spirit’s power, not on my own. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight. As You build Your character in my life, help me walk in Your joy. Help me be consistent in character so that my words and actions align. Forgive me where I have failed to walk in the fruit of righteousness, and let me bear fruit that pleases You. Help me display Your character and nature so that the world may see how good You are and that You, Father, are glorified in my life. Thank You, Jesus, for Your gift of grace to me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
Posted in Joyful Living Devotional