Ten Core Values for the Christian life (7)

The Ten Commandments represent ten core values, spiritual values, that will help us to live a dedicated and fruitful Christian life.

A core value is a principle or belief that a person or organization views as being of central importance. I feel free to say that the Ten Commandments describe values that would make for a happier and safer society... if applied.

Let's continue with the seventh commandment: You shall not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14).

When I first started reading the Bible in English, I struggled with words such as adultery and idolatry. I mixed them up from time to time. But you know what? There is some truth in that. Idolatry is spiritual unfaithfulness while adultery is physical unfaithfulness, which basically means to forsake our first love!

God is spirit and God is love and we are not. We are humans of flesh and blood, and we may wonder: ‘Is it possible to love and keep on loving? Is it possible to be faithful to the end?’

I believe it all starts with receiving God's love, renewing our understanding of that love, and refreshing the way we love Him back. What God wants to establish in our spiritual lives, He will surely use in our day-to-day natural circumstances. God is faithful, even if we are not. The Psalmist wrote: ‘Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life.’ 

👉The core value I have attached to the seventh commandment is FAITHFULNESS.

We are being faithful to our spouses and to God.

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For more on this topic, read my book 'FIRST LOVE' (Embracing the challenge to pursue faithful relationships). This book is available on Amazon in your country.

Fruit of the Spirit (8)

Throughout the ages people from all kinds of religions have done their best to be recognized; recognized from the outside that is... Just think about wearing hats, head coverings, toga's, habits, crosses and beads. However, the outside doesn't always say much about the inside, and that is really the place where God wants to bring forth fruit.

What the Holy Spirit wants to produce in us, is truly beautiful: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). In this blog series we have come to faithfulness. The King James Version says faith.

Isn't that what faith-fulness really is: being full of faith...?

The faith that we receive as a gift from God, and that needs to bear fruit in our lives, is not the faith from our parents, church or friends, but it is supernatural faith from God! Hebrews 11:1 tells us what kind of faith(fulness) that is: 

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (NIV)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (NKJV)

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. (MSG)

To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. (GNT)

Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. (AMP)

Amen. I want to be recognized by that kind of faith, what about you?