The Virtues of Christ – Joy

December 19, 2024 — jwwealand

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” Proverbs 17:22. Joy is a word that describes the fruit of the Spirit of Christ, see Galatians 5:22. Fruit takes time to grow, and even in the life of Christ, it grew full to maturity. Jesus had joy and expressed it best in his constant sense of gratitude. The Christ was prophesied to be the “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:2-5) and indeed Jesus had sorrows heaped upon him in various ways, but he was still able to be thankful and express joy. During the teaching ministry of Jesus, he could break out in praise to God, when he saw how people were believing and understanding what he taught, even while rebuking the religious leaders of Judaism, see Matthew 11:23-25. He is also recorded as “rejoicing in the Spirit”, Luke 10:20-21. Try to name two things which you think made Jesus able to rejoice?

  1. Watching People Get Access & Receive The Truth of God’s Wisdom.
  1. Watching People Do The Will of The Father & Having Their Names Written in Heaven.

When Jesus taught about joy, he used the word “blessed” (Matthew 5:1-16) which is not a fleeting feeling of euphoria, but rather an attitude of contentment that gives a person a feeling of satisfaction which can’t be taken away. Fleeting feelings of sorrow may interrupt our joy, but deep grief and great sorrow can not steal the joy of Jesus away forever. The joy of Jesus was something he wanted his disciples to experience, see John 15:10 -12. In fact he prayed for the purpose of his disciples to live lives that would experience his joy, see John 17:13-14. When our lives are not joyful, we should remind ourselves of what it was, which Jesus found joy in. 

When Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep, Matthew 18;11-13, do you think that only the angels rejoice when a lost sheep is found? Or does Jesus rejoice as well? Everytime Jesus pronounced the forgiveness of someone’s sins, do you believe he was happy or sober?

The most ironic fact about the joy of Jesus is that he went to the cross with a focus on the “joy” that was set before him, Hebrews 12:2.

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The Virtues of Christ – Forgiveness

December 17, 2024 — jwwealand

Forgiveness is two-fold; 1) a desire and propensity to release ill-will.

      2) a process of actions between offender and/or the offended.

Our own forgiveness relies not only on faith in the promises of God in repentance & baptism, but also on our ability to forgive others who have hurt us or treated us unfairly. Jesus says…

“If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you! But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you. (Matthew 6:14-15).

An amazing fact about Christ is that Jesus never sinned, even when charged with blasphemy against God and being sentenced to crucifixion as a rival king against Caesar, see Matthew 27:24-25. He still gave his life-blood as a sacrifice for all of our sins, even those who directly wanted him tortured to death. The Jews, and those in the crowd took responsibility for Jesus’ death. Essentially, they said, “charge his death to our account and the accounts of our children.” This text has been incorrectly used over the years as a proof text to justify many of the horrible things Jews have experienced over the years. Since the ones calling for his execution were Jews, they are getting payback for their sin. However, Luke’s gospel destroys that idea. When Jesus was on the cross, he wanted to forgive them, (Luke 23:34) This means he wanted to forgive every person who desired his death and who participated in his death. The truth is he didn’t die because they willed it. He died because he wanted it done as the price of forgiveness. His sovereignty is seen both in the crown of thorns and his resurrection.

Since Christ is our example, how much do we desire to forgive others? Perhaps this is why Christ tells us we must also pick up our cross. (Luke 9:23) Why is it so hard for us to forgive? Perhaps it is because we do not know if our offender wants to be forgiven? But have we searched our offender out and learned if they are sorry & wanting to repent? Jesus worked hard to find people who wanted to repent, see Luke 17:1-6. Even if repentance is repeated 490 times, It is impossible to keep count of this, even with one offender, so we must ask God for greater faith to try this. (Matthew 18:22). We should forgive others because Christ has already forgiven us of so much more! See Ephesians 4:32.


The most refreshing experience we can relate to, is the feeling of freedom from the weight of guilt or a grudge after forgiveness is given. This is reconciliation, the beautiful effect of two people who have been against each other, then actually becoming friends. Do we ask God to help us experience reconciliation? This refreshment is exactly what Peter refers to in Acts 3:19-20. Humans thrive when we experience this with our Creator.

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The Virtues of Christ – Patience

December 17, 2024 — jwwealand

One of the best examples of the patience of Jesus is seen in his reply to Peter, after healing the ear in which Peter had cut off from Malchus’ head, (Matthew 26:53) Mercy in action was powerful as the fact of Christ’s angels were being withheld from delivering Jesus, but Malchus got deliverance from Jesus. In-turn, Malchus and the soldiers would send Jesus off to be condemned & crucified. But Jesus was patient with the impetus Peter and all of the false-accusers that would torture him to death.

In light of God’s patience, we are to live out the virtue of patience toward others. In the New Testament, the virtue of patience is called a “fruit of the Spirit”, as the evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Galatians 3:23). We are to pursue and pray for growth, by the power of the Spirit, to become more patient with ourselves, with God, and with others. In fact, Paul addresses this in Romans 2:4. Speaking to those who would judge others, yet live the same way, Paul says, “Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”.  

Paul continued his teaching of patience to Timothy in this manner, “This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I am the worst of them! But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” 1st Timothy 1:15-16

In fact, throughout the New Testament, believers are commanded to be patient. In Colossians 3:12-13, Paul says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive”. In Romans 12:12, we are called to “Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer”. In Ephesians 4:1-3, Paul entreats us, “Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”. The bottom line, we are to practice the art of patience. 

Love is PATIENT , love is kind, it is not envious, love does not brag, it is not puffed up (1st Corinthians 13:4) Let’s start here.

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The Virtues of Christ – Kindness

December 17, 2024 — jwwealand

Perhaps the most attractive virtue of Christ during his ministry was the way he was so approachable and gentle in his response to anyone. Yet, today, most people are really attracted to the reason he died and was raised from the dead. But his character was full of grace and mercy during his work in training the twelve disciples and teaching the public. Jesus also points out that kindness is in the character of our Father:

Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is KIND to ungrateful and evil people.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:35)

Do we accept that being kind towards ungrateful & evil people is part of our discipleship? 

How do we even define our discipleship?

The way we learn to emulate the attitude and cause of Christ is what should shape our personal and public discipleship towards Jesus. What is the most common word used to describe members of the church in the New Testament? Disciples! Jesus knew that his followers should be more than just believers, but using the term disciple, meant believers in Him should be learning and putting to use what they learn. What did Jesus want all of his believers to learn in Matthew 11:29-30?

 “Take my yoke on you and learn from me because I am gentle and humble in heart, 

and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is EASY to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.” (Matthew 11:29-30)

The Greek word for describing the yoke we are to bear, can be translated “kind”, but the word “easy” is used to describe an object like a yoke, but if your yoke is discipleship, then kindness is exactly how we should be treating others when we try to emulate Jesus. Our discipleship should be full of kindness, that is taking it easy on how we treat everyone we meet.

To the apostle Paul, kindness was like part of the clothing of Christ we dress ourselves with, described in Colossians 3:12-14. How do you show off kindness like apparel you may wear? Doesn’t the kind of clothes you wear affect your posture and maybe even the way you act? What are ways you can be kind to others?

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