Thread by @sometimesalight

My greatest concern for the evangelical church right now is that we've wasted years chasing issues. Years we should have spent cultivating virtue.

We are radically unprepared for this moment.

Lean hard into virtue, folks.

Humility
Repentance
Forgiveness
Grace
Love
Patience
Self-control
Hope

Lean hard into prayer & Scripture. If you don't have personal habits of worship & repentance, start them.

This moment requires a depth of character, grace, & spiritual maturity that will never come from taking sides. It will come only from God himself.

I want to follow up on this lest it is unclear:

Virtue will lead us to action & to align ourselves w/ justice. But aligning ourselves w/ justice isn't our source of virtue. We act b/c God is just & He is causing us to love justice.

I think a lot of us learned this in reverse. We were taught that certain positions & stances made us good people. We were "righteous" b/c we aligned ourselves w/ certain policy initiatives, boycotts, & movements. We knew we were good people by how we voted.

But we are made good by encountering God. We are made good when His goodness confronts our wickedness. We are made good thru humility, repentance, & transformation, not posturing & votes.

And as He is changing us, our actions will reflect His character. We will be people who testify to His justice, mercy, love, and goodness both w/ our words & lives.