The Next Small Step

Dear friends,

This Sunday we reach the end of The Seven: From Vice to Virtue. Some of us may be breathing a small sigh of relief. Nine weeks of examining our deepest desires has been rather intense!

We began the series because our hearts are notoriously difficult to recognise. It is easy to settle into well-worn habits of thought and behaviour without noticing where they are taking us. The seven vices are called “capital” not because they are the seven worst sins, but because they are deeply rooted dispositions from which many other sins grow.

But the aim was never merely to diagnose what is wrong with us. Each vice distorts something good that God has made. So we have also explored the corresponding virtues—the better life God offers us in Christ and forms in us by his Spirit.

In preparation for Sunday, Ness invited us to reflect on what has encouraged, challenged or transformed us through the series. Every preacher must preach to themselves first, and I would never ask you to do something I am not prepared to do myself. So, in the interests of transparency, how has this series changed me?

It has been deeply personal. Each week God has revealed something more about my heart—and something more about his grace.

Take greed. Am I avaricious? Not compared with certain other people I could point to on Sydney’s North Shore! But comparison is a wonderfully convenient way of avoiding the real question. Do I sometimes ignore the rightful claims that the needs of others—and God’s demands for mercy and justice—place upon my money and possessions? Yes.

Or take sloth. Am I lazy? No! But sloth is much more than laziness. Do I resist the obligations that love places upon my life? Do I sometimes resist the Spirit’s transforming work because it would be inconvenient or costly? Yes.

And chastity—what an eye-opener that has been! I had thought of it chiefly in terms of sexual restraint. But chastity means ordering our sexuality towards faithfulness to God and the loving good of others. I am called to practise it within my marriage by loving Karen as a whole person, rather than as someone who exists to meet my needs. It has also reminded me that I need to cultivate other deep and faithful friendships, rather than expecting marriage to carry the full weight of my need for human relationship.

Discovering another dark chamber of my heart each week might have left me thoroughly dismayed. Yet what has most encouraged me is the positive vision of the virtuous life that has emerged. This really is the good life.

Karen Swallow Prior reminds us that goodness is good—not merely respectable, dull or dutiful. It possesses a beauty and attractiveness of its own. Humility, patience, mercy, generosity and chastity are different expressions of Christlike love. Together they depict a life lived according to God’s good design: following Jesus, alongside our spiritual brothers and sisters, through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, I find myself thinking: this is how I want to live—with all my heart.

I have also been encouraged by seeing signs of that life among you: quiet acts of patience, generosity, humility, faithfulness and kindness. George Saunders calls them “drops of goodness”. They may appear small, but in these small wonders I see the goodness of God at work among us.

That matters because becoming virtuous can otherwise feel like a rather intimidating self-improvement project. It isn’t. We are not trying to earn God’s approval or achieve an impressive spiritual score. In Christ, we are already loved, forgiven and accepted. Transformation is the fruit of grace, not the price we pay for it.

Grace Hamman compares the virtuous life to a pilgrimage. We are travelling towards life with Jesus in his kingdom, accompanied by others along the way. We may take wrong turns, become distracted or occasionally find ourselves in a rather disreputable inn! But every long journey is made through small steps.

We may not know all the large steps. Usually, however, we know the next small one.

Mine is to pay closer attention to my desires as they emerge. When I notice them turning inward—towards self-protection, self-gratification or self-importance—I want to stop and, with God’s help, turn them outwards again: towards him and towards the good of others.

What is your next small step?

Don’t attempt to address all seven pairings at once. Ask God to show you one desire that needs redirecting, one virtue he wants to cultivate, and one small act of faithful obedience you can take. Then take that step—not alone, and not in your own strength, but trusting the grace of Christ and the transforming presence of his Spirit.

The series may be ending, but the journey certainly isn’t.

With love in Christ,

James