Quality of the Man – Consistency

The build up continues to the revealing of the person who has been dominating my thoughts of late and in line with what I recently wrote about the quality of a man, I want to follow that up by looking at another feature that struck whilst considering this particular character and putting that in the light of my Christ following business.

Consistency: Ah here’s a word that has dogged me persistently throughout my life.  I’ve often mourned that I’m guilty of being consistently inconsistent.  The truth of the matter is that rather than crying and mourning, it is definitely in my best interests to go looking for that which leads to the life of consistency and I don’t have to go very far.

I reckon my dad’s ability to be so consistent came from the age at which he married and then developed his family.  He married in his 40’s and by the time his children were responsive he was at a stage in his life where he was relatively unruffled and slow to be riled up about things.  He epitomised the positive qualities and overwhelming benefits of a consistent lifestyle.  It was not a routine he questioned or complained about.  He complied with that which was set before him with the same level of application and diligence.  That made him dependable.  Others would soon learn his limitations and the quality of his capacity.

Building up that reputation wasn’t something that my dad had to consciously concern himself about, evidently because he had already got it into his system as part of his life.  It was what he did, it was where he found God involved in his everyday life and it was obviously where he learned contentment in Christ even if his circumstances were not advantageous in the eyes of others.

Here again is the power of the habitual, you do something the once, you resolve to do it again, you eventually resolve further to maintain it as part of your life and it eventually becomes embedded.  Some say it becomes as though you do it without thinking.  I disagree.  It becomes a matter of your thinking being conditioned and conformed to that which you have done and which you reinforce however you do it.

The power of the instruction then to be transformed by the renewing of the mind as seen in Romans is about developing those spiritual disciplines which help influence the shape of the character and at least leaves you open to the shaping nature of the spirit that becomes the expression of consistency.  It is still very much a case of thinking, it is a case of deeper thinking engrained reforming the mind after the mind of Christ and thus experiencing and expressing the fruit of that union.

Either way our minds are being formed and conformed to something and the invitation to us is whether we choose to develop the consistency by relationship with christ or not.  Even that conscious decision to do so must be acknowledged as a gift from God, but cannot be taken for granted or relaxed on as if there’s no part we play in appreciating, cultivating and celebrating it.  That is why the more we do it, all of a sudden, surprise, surprise, the more consistent we become.  It’s hardly a secret, but in the demands of a world that is still trying to conform you back to its ways, it can get lost in the shuffle.  Once set continually before us as life’s focus then it is setting Christ above all else and acknowledging his Lordship and … being more consistent.

That’s not the end of some of the qualities that emerged though, and more of that will be explored very soon.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd