THE UNDERGROUND SECRET TO OVERGROUND FRUIT

If you’ve been following this series, you already know my satire: Because nothing says “mature discipleship” like duct-taped joy and plastic patience zip-tied to dead bark.

Blog #5 (“Stop Stapling Fruit to Dead Trees”) was about values—the underground decisions that quietly determine what a church (and a Christian) will actually do when nobody is watching. This blog (#6) is the sequel: not “What do the roots believe?” but “What do the roots absorb?”

Because healthy roots aren’t just committed. They’re receptive. They don’t manufacture nutrients; they take in what the soil provides. And in the Christian Character Tree framework, the Beatitudes function like a root system—eight “root postures” that position us to receive the “supplements” Peter lists in 2 Peter 1:3-7.

And just to be clear, I am writing from a grace-first sanctification, Scripture as final authority, and virtue language that serves discipleship–not moralism perspective. What I don’t want to imply is that you and I are somehow responsible for generating the “fruit of the Spirit”(Galatians 5:23). After all, it is called “the fruit of the Spirit” not “the fruit of our effort.”

Neither do I want to come across as promoting some kind of religious moralism. Adhering to a certain code of moral behavior is not the end result of what the LORD is looking for. That would just breed self-righteousness or despair, and we don’t want either of those delivered by Amazon or by anyone else to our front door.  

The soil matters before the supplements

Before we talk about supplements, let’s do a little review.  Remember Peter’s assumption: you’re planted in real soil.

In my tree framework, the soil is the Transcendentals—the True, the Good, and the Beautiful—objective realities grounded in God, not vibes grounded in our mood.  If you try to grow character in the shifting sand of cultural relativism, the tree will topple (probably while posting inspirational quotes).

That matters because the Beatitudes are not “cute attitudes.” They are the way a soul stays planted in reality. For example:

• Poor in spirit is truth about my need.

• Hunger for righteousness is goodness as more than preference.

• Peacemaking is beauty’s cousin—harmony, unity, wholeness.

When the soil is true, good, and beautiful, the roots know what counts as nourishment.

Why the Beatitudes can work as a root system

A root system does three big things: anchors, absorbs, and transports.

• It anchors the tree so storms don’t uproot it.

• It absorbs water and minerals the tree can’t produce.

• It transports nourishment upward so fruit is organic—not stapled.

Now look at Jesus’ Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3–10). They aren’t a list of spiritual achievements. They are the posture of a life open to the kingdom—small enough to receive, honest enough to repent, hungry enough to keep seeking, steady enough to endure.

One helpful way to say it: the Beatitudes don’t read like “do these things to get blessed.” They read like “God’s kingdom has come near even to people the world calls unblessable.”¹ That is root logic.

And that’s exactly how this Character Tree maps it: Beatitudes as root postures, Peter’s list serves as nutrients/supplements for growth, and the Spirit’s fruit as what naturally grows when the plumbing is working.

Peter starts with God’s supply, not your hustle

Peter’s growth plan begins with a sentence that crushes religious self-improvement:

God’s divine power “has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” and has given “precious and very great promises” (2 Pet. 1:3–4, ESV). Before you “supplement” anything, God supplies everything you need. This is so HUGE! Take a moment to ponder this. If what you are considering involves anything to do with life (zoe´, the eternal kind of life) and godliness (eusebeia, the appropriate beliefs and practices about God and for God), you are gifted with it already. 

Then comes that hot phrase: “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). This does not mean humans become God by nature or essence. Rather, it means we are invited to participate in God’s life by grace — sharing in His divine energies while never becoming identical to His divine essence.

Are you getting this? Peter is not saying we become gods. He’s saying God shares his moral life with us—his character, his holiness—so we begin to look like our Father through Christ and the Spirit.² We become like Christ in our character. As we align to the nature of God we are able to be conduits for the flow of His power. Power that is always enough should also be regulated by character. 

So Peter’s order is:

Gift → Posture → Practice → Fruit → Assurance.

God supplies. Roots receive. Branches grow. Fruit appears.

That’s why the Beatitudes matter: they keep your soul open to what God is actually giving.

Why this posture matters in the Christian life

We all love virtue growth until it costs us.

We want love, but not enemies.

We want peace, but not conflict.

We want self-control, but also seconds.

We want steadfastness… with an exit clause.

The Beatitudes are gatekeeper roots because they force you into reality before you try to run on strength. For example: “Poor in spirit” is spiritual bankruptcy—no swagger, no pretending, no “God is lucky to have me.” That posture matters because you can’t absorb grace while clutching your own righteousness like a Kohl's coupon.

And each Beatitude does something similar: it bends the heart low enough to receive. It keeps sanctification from becoming performance. Without them, we may gain what the culture and even the religious culture is offering (junk food at best), but miss what God is really trying to give us so that we may really know Him, not just try to be something for Him. 

As the Apostle Paul wrote: “⁸…For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” (Philippians 3:8–11, ESV)

This is why it is important to have all the beatitude roots in good shape. If any are not absorbing as they should, you will be deficient in that area. 

Which supplements are absorbed by which roots?

Here’s the absorption map straight from the Tree framework:

1. Poor in spirit → absorbs faith

2. Those who mourn → absorbs virtue (moral excellence)

3. The meek → absorbs knowledge

4. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness → absorbs self-control

5. The merciful → absorbs steadfastness

6. The pure in heart → absorbs godliness

7. The peacemakers → absorbs brotherly affection

8. The persecuted for righteousness → absorbs love

Now, let’s put some flesh on those bones (apologies for adding another metaphor)—what each root posture does as it absorbs its nutrient (supplement),  what happens when it’s closed, and how it nourishes the virtues.

Root 1: Poor in spirit → Faith

Admitting spiritual bankruptcy is the only way to draw up grace. Faith grows best in a soul that has stopped negotiating with God.

When this root is closed, faith becomes either (a) optimism with Bible verses, or (b) anxiety with Bible verses. When it’s open, faith becomes settled dependence.

Virtue nourishment: faith is the foundational theological virtue, and it also opens the hinge of prudence (wisdom), because humility is how wisdom starts.  “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2, ESV)

Root 2: Those who mourn → Virtue (moral excellence)

We grow in moral excellence when we truly grieve the ugliness of sin. Mourning turns “I got caught” into “I was wrong.” That grief is not despair; it’s spiritual honesty.

When this root is closed, virtue turns performative—image management. When it’s open, virtue becomes integrity.

Virtue nourishment: virtue (moral excellence) strengthens justice (a real concern for right and wrong), and it strengthens hope because comfort comes from God, not denial.

Root 3: The meek → Knowledge

Only a submissive heart can receive knowledge without arrogance. Meekness is strength under God’s authority, which means you can learn without constantly defending your ego.

When this root is closed, knowledge becomes ammunition. When it’s open, knowledge becomes wisdom.

Virtue nourishment: knowledge feeds prudence—knowing what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and why you should do it.

Root 4: Hunger for righteousness → Self-control

You only control lower appetites if you have a superior hunger for God. Self-control isn’t mainly about saying “no.” It’s about wanting a better “yes.”

When this root is closed, self-control becomes white-knuckle religion. When it’s open, self-control becomes a trained desire.

Virtue nourishment: this is temperance—the ability to enjoy good things without worshiping them.

Root 5: The merciful → Steadfastness

Practicing constant forgiveness builds the muscle of enduring compassion. Mercy is not a mood; it’s a habit. And habits require endurance.

When this root is closed, mercy turns into cynicism (“I tried being kind once—never again”). When it’s open, mercy becomes resilient.

Virtue nourishment: this is fortitude in everyday clothes—steadfastness that keeps obeying when obedience isn’t interesting.

Root 6: Pure in heart → Godliness

Purity is singleness of focus—practicing God’s presence. A divided heart can do religious activity for years and still be spiritually hollow.

When this root is closed, godliness becomes a stage persona. When it’s open, godliness becomes a life oriented toward God—public and private.

Virtue nourishment: godliness stabilizes justice (giving God his due) and prudence (because double-minded plans collapse).

Root 7: The peacemakers → Brotherly affection

Peacemaking exhibits kindness and reconciliation. Peacemaking isn’t “keeping the peace” by avoiding hard conversations; it’s doing the hard work that makes peace possible. Peace is a healing and a harmony, not an absence of strife. The dead don’t argue. (Ecclesiastes 9:6)

When this root is closed, brotherly affection becomes tribal (“kind to our people, cold to everyone else”). When it’s open, brotherly affection becomes family love.

Virtue nourishment: it strengthens justice (giving others dignity) and temperance (restraining the ego that loves a fight).

Root 8: The persecuted → Love

Enduring suffering for Jesus is the ultimate test of sacrificial love. It’s easy to love when the sun is shining; it takes deep roots to love when the world is burning you down.

When this root is closed, love becomes approval-addicted. When it’s open, love becomes cruciform—shaped like the cross.

Virtue nourishment: love is the theological summit, and it fuels fortitude (courage under fire). God always responds to love, for it is what He is. (1 John 4:7-8) It gives us courage in the face of fear,  knowing that whatever may happen or not happen it will be because God has made it so out of love. 

Why this makes a difference in the Cardinal and Theological virtues

My framework distinguishes cardinal virtues (the trunk) from theological virtues (branches). 

• Cardinal virtues are “cardinal” because everything hinges on them (Latin cardo, hinge): prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude.³ This is why in the images you see a small hinge in the “virtue nourishment” box.

• Theological virtues are “theological” because they originate in God and aim at God: faith, hope, love—and in the classical tradition they are “divinely infused.”⁴

Now notice Peter’s chain: it starts with faith and climaxes in love (theological bookends). In between are hinge-strengtheners:

• Knowledge feeds prudence.

• Virtue and godliness feed justice.

• Self-control feeds temperance.

• Steadfastness feeds fortitude.

When the Beatitude roots are open, the hinges stop squeaking and the gifts stop getting treated like personality traits.

Or, as one famous line from a devil’s correspondence in the Screwtape Letters puts it: “Courage [fortitude] is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point.”⁵ When the virtues are stretched and tested and taken as far as one can go, if any such as “Love” or “Justice” bends to danger, it will be only love or justice under certain conditions. As Lewis quipped, “Pilate was merciful till it became risky.”⁶ 

Beatitudes keep effort from becoming earning

Here’s where Baptists and many evangelicals often get tangled: Peter says “make every effort” (2 Pet. 1:5), while we insist salvation is by grace.

A better framing (and a necessary one): grace kills earning, not effort. “Grace is not opposed to effort… it is opposed to earning.”⁷

And the Beatitudes keep your effort from turning into earning:

• Poor in spirit keeps effort humble.

• Mourning keeps effort repentant.

• Meekness keeps effort teachable.

• Hunger keeps effort, well…hungry, not performative.

• Mercy keeps effort relational.

• Purity keeps effort undivided.

• Peacemaking keeps effort communal.

• Persecution keeps effort resilient.

Without this posture, you can “do Christian things” and still be spiritually dehydrated, which makes us dizzy and gives us all a headache. 

But not all soil is easy all the time. There are droughts. God has a purpose for this as well. 

The dark-soil passages: trials as pressure on the root system

Scripture is consistent: trials aren’t a glitch; they’re a tool.

• Suffering produces endurance, character, and hope (Rom. 5:3–5).

• Trials produce steadfastness and maturity (Jas. 1:2–4).

• Tested faith becomes more precious than gold (1 Pet. 1:6–7).

• God strengthens believers for endurance and patience with joy (Col. 1:9–14).

Trials press on the root system. When the soil gets hard, roots either go deeper or dry out. The Beatitudes are the posture that keeps roots open in hard soil.

Two pictures to keep in your pocket

A lizard that turns into a stallion

In a grey-town allegory, a man’s cherished sin is pictured as a whispering lizard. When he finally consents for it to be killed, the lizard is transfigured into a strong, glorious creature—desire redeemed rather than merely managed.⁸ That’s what Peter’s supplements are for: not just restraint, but transformation.

Travel bread in a wasteland

In a long-road epic, weary travelers survive a nightmare journey on a small, unimpressive provision that gives strength far beyond its appearance.⁹ Peter’s list often feels like that: knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, brotherly affection. Not flashy. But sustaining. The kind of nutrition you notice most when the road is long.

A quick word to churches

Individuals have roots. Churches do too.

A church that refuses poverty of spirit will become proud in spreadsheets.

A church that won’t mourn will become an expert at PR spin.

A church that won’t make peace will become addicted to outrage.

A church that refuses persecution will trade faithfulness for applause.

If you want Spirit fruit, keep the roots open.

Conclusion: Do not fake your fruit—open your roots

If your Christian life feels unfruitful, the worst thing you can do is scream at the branches or decorate them with fake fruit.

Fruit is not produced by scolding. Fruit is produced by life (zoe´–the God kind of life).

So don’t just “try harder.” Try deeper.

Open your roots: let Jesus name your posture, let Peter name your nutrients, let the Spirit grow your fruit.

Because the goal isn’t a decorated dead tree.

The goal is a living one.

Endnotes

¹Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. Harper, 1997. pp.99-102. 

²GotQuestions.org, “How do we participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)?” https://www.gotquestions.org/participate-in-the-divine-nature.html 

³Kreeft, Peter. Back to Virtue: Traditional Moral Wisdom for Modern Moral Confusion. Ignatius Press, 1992, p. 59.

⁴Ibid, p. 71.

⁵Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters. HarperOne, 2001, p. 161.

⁶Ibid, p.162.

⁷Willard, Dallas. The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship. HarperOne, 2007, 61.

⁸Lewis, C. S. The Great Divorce: A Dream. HarperOne, 2001, p. 111.

⁹Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings Illustrated. William Morrow, 2021. pp.369-370. For those who do not have this volume, it is found in book 2, chapter 8 of The Fellowship of the Ring. 

STOP STAPLING FRUIT TO DEAD TREES

5th in the Wide Witness, Deep Roots Series

Why your real values show up in the budget, calendar, and reflexes

—and the values needed for Christlike character from the roots.

If you want to know what you really value, don’t ask for your “statement of faith.” Ask for your calendar, your credit-card bill, and your browser history. Values don’t live in our vocabulary. They live in our reflexes.

That is why character formation is hard. Most of us are trying to staple shiny fruit onto a sick tree. We want patience, joy, self-control, and love, but we keep feeding the roots with whatever the culture is selling this week: comfort, applause, outrage, and control. Then we act surprised when the tree grows thorns.

My Christian Character Tree picture visualizes the idea that real change is mostly underground. The “visible” is downstream from the “invisible.” The fruit grows in the light, but the life comes from the dark.

So let’s talk about the dark. Specifically, the values that (1) root us in the soil of the transcendentals - the True, the Good, and the Beautiful - and (2) draw up the supplements of 2 Peter 1:3-11 so a person and a church actually become stable, credible, and Christlike. Is that not what we want? 

And yes, we are going to be specific. Not ‘quick tips’ specific—more like ‘put your finger on the real issue underground’ specific. 

Values are often either assumed or forgotten. Some churches have value statements, but they are not fleshed out in the life of the church. The same may be true for individuals. For this reason, I have built this blog around some questions on how values inform Christian character. Let’s take a look. 

1) VIRTUES VS VALUES: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Here’s the simplest way to say it without sounding like a philosophy professor:

• A value is what you prize.

• A virtue is what you can practice reliably when it costs you.

Values are the target; virtues are the trained capacity to hit the target when it counts.

That is why the same moral word can sometimes work both ways. “Self-control” can mean (a) the thing you admire and want (value), and (b) the settled ability to govern your appetites under pressure (virtue). Same label, different layer.

Think of it like this:

• Values live in the roots. They are the inner “pricing system” of the soul. They answer: What is worth it? What matters most? What do we protect, pursue, and celebrate?

• Virtues live in the trunk and branches. They are stable dispositions - the “joinery of the soul” - that make obedience more natural over time. See this previous blog for this “joinery”concept. 

A church can have orthodox beliefs on paper and still be shaped by unchristian values in practice. That’s why you can have a congregation that “believes the Bible” and still runs on the same fuel as the corporate world: efficiency, image-management, and growth-at-all-costs. The beliefs might be right, but the values are crooked - and the fruit tells the truth.

2) WHAT PLACE DO VALUES HAVE IN CHRISTIAN CHARACTER?

Values are the bridge between what you believe (Head) and what you do (Hands). They are how the Heart steers the whole operation.

Scripture talks about this constantly, even if it doesn’t always use the modern word “values.” Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”(Matthew 6:21). Treasure is value language. Paul says grace “trains” us (Titus 2). Training is value-and-virtue language. Peter says God has given us “precious and very great promises” and then commands, “make every effort.” Promises are God’s value-claims; effort is our Spirit-empowered response.

Dallas Willard’s line nails the problem: “Grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning.”¹  If you confuse effort with legalism, you throw away the means of growth. You end up with “vampire Christianity”: people who want the benefits of Jesus’ blood but have no interest in Jesus’ life.² That is a values issue before it is a habits issue.

So values are not extra credit. They are the hidden engine. If the engine is wrong, you can polish the hood all day and still won’t go anywhere.

3) WHERE DO VALUES GO IN THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER TREE?

Still underground. Absolutely.

If virtues are the trunk and limbs, values are the underground system that decides what gets drawn up and what gets ignored. Here is a quick reminder of what has been covered in previous blogs. 

In this tree:

• The soil is the transcendentals: the True, the Good, the Beautiful - objective realities grounded in God.

• The roots are foundational heart postures (the eight Beatitudes).

• The sap is Spirit-powered means: Word, prayer, and spiritual disciplines.

• The trunk and limbs are virtues: stable Christlike capacities.

• The fruit is what appears when the whole system is healthy: visible love, joy, peace, etc.

Values sit in the roots (and at the root-soil boundary). They are the “root permissions.” They determine what the roots consider nourishing. Two people can sit through the same sermon and one draws life while the other draws bitterness, because their value system filters what counts as “good.”

Values are also communal. Churches have values the way families have values - not always written down, but always enforced. “We are the kind of church that…” is values-speak. And churches enforce values by what they reward, what they platform, what they fund, and what they overlook.

4) WHAT VALUES ROOT THE TREE IN THE SOIL OF THE TRANSCENDENTALS?

The transcendentals are not three different gods. They are three facets of the same God. Classical Christian thought insists they belong together: the True, the Good, and the Beautiful are convertible - what is truly true and truly good is also truly beautiful. When a culture splits them apart, it becomes unhinged. When a Christian re-integrates and reorders them under Christ, the soul becomes whole.

So the following set of values is not a list of “nice ideas.” It’s a re-anchoring of what reality is.

If you want receipts, you can find this triad all over serious Christian thinkers. If you’ve read my other blogs you will remember the names and their thoughts repeated here. 

Thomas Aquinas treated truth, goodness, and beauty as “convertible” properties of being (because God is the source of being).³ Peter Kreeft loves to point out that everything that exists is in some way true, good, and beautiful - because it comes from the Creator.⁴ James K.A. Smith keeps reminding the church that we are not brains-on-sticks; we are lovers, shaped by the “liturgies” we rehearse.⁵ Timothy Keller said our biggest problems are often good things we have turned into ultimate things (that is, values gone rogue).⁶ John Piper emphasizes that we fight sin’s promises with better promises.⁷ And D.A. Carson is blunt that while we cannot create spiritual life, we are commanded to cultivate it with Spirit-empowered effort.⁸

Now we come to what I believe are the must-have values for the roots of our Christian character to hold fast in times of crisis, to draw in the nutrients of 2 Peter 1:3-5, to bear the Fruit of the Spirit in each choice, and to grow in the image of Christ over time.  I warn you now. It is a lot. 

As Psalm one states:

 “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” (Psalm 1:3, ESV)

VALUES OF THE TRUE (HEAD VALUES)

These four values keep you from living in the fog.

• Veracity 

Reverence for reality: We must value Truth not as a weapon to bludgeon our enemies on Twitter, but as a sacred alignment with What Is. Truth is not merely a tool but a moral obligation grounded in God’s own character—He cannot lie, His Word is true, and therefore His people must speak and live truthfully. This value cultivates humility and teachability: we do not get to invent the world or bend it to our feelings; we receive God’s world and God’s revelation with honesty, repentance, and courage.

• Teachability

Cognitive humility: the posture that receives instruction and correction because we are finite, fallible, and being sanctified. It is not gullibility or perpetual doubt, but a steady openness to be reformed by Scripture, reality, and wise counsel—submitting our opinions and impulses to God’s Word rather than forcing the world to fit our preferences. If we cannot be corrected, we cannot be formed, because spiritual growth requires repentance, renewed minds, and a willingness to learn truth even when it bruises our pride.

• Discernment 

Clarity over outrage: the Spirit-trained ability to distinguish truth from error and wisdom from impulse, choosing clarity over outrage in a culture engineered for reaction. It is rooted in Scripture and renewed judgment—testing claims, motives, and “fruit,” refusing to baptize fear, suspicion, or party loyalty as righteousness. Discernment values calm, truthful perception more than adrenaline, because the goal is faithfulness to Christ, not the temporary rush of being provoked.

• Integrity 

Living one life: an undivided self in which inner convictions and outward conduct are congruent because Christ is Lord of the whole person. Integrity flows from a sincere heart and a renewed mind—walking in the light with repentance rather than hiding behind spiritual performance or selective obedience. It means the same Jesus-shaped character on Sunday and Thursday, with truthful speech and consistent love in prayer, work, and the group text—no “religious voice” mask for church and “real voice” for everything else.

VALUES OF THE GOOD (HANDS/WILL VALUES)

These four values keep you from treating goodness as a preference.

• Liberation

Obedience as freedom: Modern life says obedience is oppression. Scripture says that God’s will is not oppression but liberation—because sin enslaves, and Christ sets us free. We obey not to earn acceptance but because we are accepted in Christ, and the Spirit supplies both power and new desires. God’s commands are not arbitrary restrictions but a map of reality and human flourishing, reshaping disordered loves that keep us captive. This value makes holiness feel like oxygen, not prison.

• Grit

Courage over comfort: It is the gospel-shaped resolve to obey God when obedience costs—choosing faithfulness over comfort because Christ is worthy and eternity is real. It doesn’t deny fear; it submits fear to a higher allegiance, trusting that God supplies strength to endure and grace to suffer well. It is perseverance under trial: steadfastness that keeps Christ’s commands when cultural approval, ease, or safety would be the easier master. Without this courage, virtues remain just an idea—because love, truthfulness, purity, and justice all eventually require costly obedience.Without courage, all other virtues become decorative.

• Honor 

Honor begins with worship: giving God His rightful place as Lord, Creator, and Redeemer, and then extending that God-centered posture into how we treat people made in His image. Honor is the outcome of fearing the Lord and the shape of neighbor-love—showing due regard, truthfulness, and humility rather than using others as instruments for self. It is impossible to grow Christlike character while valuing self at the center.

• Faithfulness 

Responsible stewardship under Christ’s lordship: recognizing that time, money, body, sexuality, speech, and influence are entrusted by God and must be managed for His glory and others’ good. It is marked by holiness, integrity, generosity, and self-control in the ordinary places where temptation and pressure actually live.

VALUES OF THE BEAUTIFUL (HEART VALUES)

These four values keep you from trying to do goodness without desire.

• Splendor

The beauty of holiness: if holiness looks ugly, you will never pursue it for long. Holiness is not bleak austerity but radiant beauty—the moral glory of God reflected in a life conformed to Christ. The heart must learn to see purity, gentleness, and faithfulness as attractive. The Spirit renews our desires so we don’t merely submit to purity, gentleness, and faithfulness as duties, but come to love them as what is truly good and fitting because they mirror God’s character and the gospel’s transforming power. 

• Thankfulness

Wonder and gratitude: it trains the heart to worship the Giver, not merely enjoy the gifts, and it deepens contentment and joy in Christ. It is therefore anti-idolatry, because it refuses to demand that created things—success, comfort, people, politics, or possessions—deliver the security and meaning that only the Creator can give.

• Adoration

God as the highest good: in Augustine’s ordered loves-God first, everything else in its place. This God-centered affection is the heart of worship and the engine of obedience: we do not merely choose differently; we treasure differently, because Christ is supremely worthy. That is why adoration is the root of repentance—repentance is more than regret; it is the Spirit-enabled re-ordering of love away from every idol and back to God.

• Assurance

Hope in valid promises: it is the steady confidence that God is real, good, and present even when the headlines are possessed and the world is unhinged. This steadiness is grounded in Christ’s finished work and God’s providence, so our peace is not dependent on circumstances, headlines, or cultural control. Hope is therefore not denial but anchored expectation: trusting God’s Word, enduring trials with perseverance, and living now in light of the coming kingdom.

These root values are not personality traits. They are commitments. A church can decide to value truthfulness over spin, depth over speed, integrity over platform. A person can decide to value reality over self-protection.

But you can’t do that if your “soil” is relativism, pragmatism, and entertainment. A tree cannot grow healthy fruit in poisoned dirt. 

5) WHY DO THESE VALUES MATTER - BOTH AS A WHOLE AND INDIVIDUALLY?

As a whole, these values create integrity. They align the mind (True), heart (Beautiful), and will (Good). Lewis called this “rebuilding the chest” - training the affections so the whole person becomes stable and human again.⁹

Individually, each value plugs a leak:

• Without veracity, you live in fantasy.

• Without teachability, you calcify.

• Without liberation, you are enslaved.

• Without grit, you compromise.

• Without faithfulness, you drift.

• Without splendor, you resent obedience.

• Without thankfulness, you demand.

• Without assurance, you panic.

You get the idea. In other words: you can’t skip one without paying interest later.

CONCLUSION: STOP STAPLING FRUIT

If your spiritual life feels like stapling apples to a dead branch, congratulations: you’re normal. You’re also being invited underground.

Christian character is not a self-improvement project. It is union with Christ producing a new value system, a new set of loves, and therefore new virtues. God’s grace does not just forgive; it forms. And Peter’s chain of supplements is not a guilt trip; it is a growth map.

So here’s the provocative challenge for both person and church:

Stop asking, “How do we look?”

Start asking, “What do we love?”

Because sooner or later, whatever you love will grow.

End Notes

¹Willard, Dallas. The Great Omission. HarperOne, 2006. P.166.

²Ibid. P.14

³Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (II–II), Q.2, A.10 and Q.4 (faith considered as act/habit/object). Online: https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~ST.II-II.Q2.10 and https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~ST.II-II.Q4

⁴Kenneth Samples, “The 3 Transcendentals: Truth, Goodness, & Beauty,” Reasons to Believe (Feb 2, 2021), summarizing Peter Kreeft’s use of truth/goodness/beauty. 

⁵“Love, Liturgy and the Architecture of Time,” The Washington Institute (quoting James K. A. Smith on being “desiring creatures” shaped by liturgical practices). https://washingtoninst.org/love-liturgy-and-the-architecture-of-time/

⁶Timothy Keller, “What is Idolatry?” The New City Catechism (The Gospel Coalition). https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/new-city-catechism/what-is-idolatry/

⁷John Piper, “What Is Idolatry?” Desiring God (interview).  https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-idolatry

⁸Carson, D. A. A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. 1992. P. 19

⁹Lewis, C. S. The Abolition of Man or Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools. HarperOne, 2001, Ch. 1.

The Scariest Thing About Your Church is Its Values

Why Truth, Goodness and Beauty Feel Optional

4th in the Wide Witness, Deep Roots Series

A tree doesn’t care how confident you are—it cares what it’s planted in.

Picture a massive tree. Thick trunk. Strong limbs. Fruit everywhere. Now picture that same tree planted in sand. It can look impressive for a while—especially if you prop it up with sticks, stakes, and strategic Instagram angles. But eventually the wind shows up and asks a simple question: “So… what’s underneath all this?”

“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:2, ESV) If the soil is contaminated, what happens to the tree? 

That’s why the foundation soil of the Christian Character Tree matters. In my graphic, the soil in which this tree is set are the Transcendentals, which is shorthand for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. And if you want a short definition that doesn’t require a philosophy degree: the transcendentals are the three ways we talk about what’s ultimately real, ultimately right, and ultimately worth loving.

Here is the main idea behind this fourth blog: Christian character won’t grow in the long run if our churches treat truth, goodness, and beauty like optional accessories. The soil isn’t a vibe. It’s a foundation.

So why do many of our churches in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) ecosystem— feel like they are committed to one transcendental (truth) and vaguely suspicious of the other two (goodness and beauty)? Is it because we assume them? Is it because we’ve quietly swapped in other values in the “soil” like efficiency, influence, winning, speed, and outrage?

Let’s do some digging and see what we find. But first:

What are the Transcendentals—and why should we care?

The transcendentals didn’t originate as a trendy Oprah self-help trio. They are a classic way of describing reality that runs through Christian thought for centuries: “truth” (what corresponds to reality), “goodness” (what is morally fitting and life-giving), and “beauty” (what is worthy of love and wonder).

Peter Kreeft explains how goodness, truth, and beauty are three things we want and need most deeply. 

At their deepest level, all three are known by the heart: truth by intuition, goodness by conscience, and beauty by an awareness for which there is no similar name. As truth perceived by the mind gives us knowledge and goodness affirmed by the will gives us virtue, beauty felt by the heart gives us joy. These are our souls’ three distinctively human and spiritual powers (or activities), their three objects (or ideals), and their three ends (or fruits).¹

When it comes to theology, Christians don’t worship abstractions; we worship the triune God. But we do confess that God is true, “But the LORD is the true God…” (Jer. 10:10, ESV), “Your word is truth” (John 17:17, ESV),  good, “Taste and see that the LORD is good!” (Psalm 34:8a, ESV), and glorious/beautiful, “Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty…”(Isa. 33:17, ESV), “One thing have I asked of the LORD…that I may dwell in the house of the LORD…to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD…” (Psalm 27:4, ESV). In other words, the transcendentals are a shorthand for the coherence of God’s own life and ways.

And the Bible refuses to let these drift apart:

• Truth is not just accurate facts; it’s a Person: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6, ESV).

• Goodness is not mere niceness; it’s God’s moral beauty embodied: “There is none good except God alone” (Mark 10:18, ESV).

• Beauty is not decoration; it’s the splendor of God that captures the heart: “to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD” (Psalm 27:4, ESV).

If you remove this soil, you don’t get freedom. You get confusion. And confusion is very expensive once it grows up and starts running your church budget.

Truth without goodness and beauty becomes… a talking point with teeth

Many of us Baptists have an instinctive reflex: “We’re a people of the Book. We care about truth.” Amen. Keep that. Please do not become the kind of church where “doctrine” means “my feelings plus a worship set.”

But here’s the problem: truth divorced from goodness becomes harsh. Truth divorced from beauty becomes boring. And harsh + boring is not a discipleship strategy—it’s a slow church churn into cynicism.

C. S. Lewis saw something like this coming. In The Abolition of Man, (Yes, I’m using this again. It is just so illuminatingly accurate.) he warned that you can train people to “talk” about virtue while hollowing out the inner formation needed to “live” it. In his famous line he concludes: “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise.”² In Lewis’s imagery, you’ve got head (ideas) and belly (appetites), but no “chest”—no formed loves, no trained courage, no moral imagination.

Translate that into church culture:

• We can teach “biblical worldview” and still train people to be mean.

• We can defend inerrancy and still lie with our clickbait.

• We can preach grace and still cultivate suspicion.

Truth is not less than propositions. But if propositions never become a life—if they don’t “take on flesh” in community—then we’ve turned truth into a slogan, not a soil.

Kevin Vanhoozer helps here: doctrine is not merely information; it functions like “stage directions” for faithful living—scripted truth meant to be performed.³ If we treat doctrine as trivia, we shouldn’t be shocked when it produces Christian trivia players.

Goodness without truth becomes… a nice-sounding nothing with a Bible verse sticker

Now flip it. Goodness detached from truth doesn’t stay goodness for long. It turns into a sentimental fog: everyone is “kind,” nobody is courageous, and sin becomes “brokenness” forever—never repentance, never change, never holiness. It’s just a vibe with a Bible verse attached.

D. A. Carson describes how modern culture often redefines tolerance so that any claim to objective truth becomes a moral crime. He notes that the “new tolerance” insists we must treat all views as equally valid, and then makes “intolerance” the supreme sin.⁴ When that moral atmosphere seeps into churches, we begin to confuse Christian love with ideological surrender.

Christian goodness is not moral mush. It’s holiness plus love. And holiness requires truth.

Beauty without truth and goodness becomes… manipulation with a sound system

Beauty is the third sibling that Southern Baptists love from a safe distance. We like beauty as long as it doesn’t (a) cost too much, (b) feel too “high church,” or (c) threaten our efficiency. I really don’t like saying this, but the evidence is overwhelming: we prefer the beauty of a well-run program over the beauty of a transformed life.

But beauty detached from truth and goodness becomes performance. Aesthetics can become anesthesia. You can make people feel things without making them faithful. You can create “a moment” without creating a disciple.

That’s why the soil has to stay integrated. The true, the good, and the beautiful belong together—because they belong to God.

And if you want a thoroughly Baptist-friendly bridge between truth, goodness, and beauty, John Piper’s famous line is basically a transcendental mash‑up: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”⁵  

That’s truth (God is gloriously real), goodness (he is worthy of worship), and beauty (he is satisfying) braided into one sentence.

So why are we not more committed to the Transcendentals?

Here’s the uncomfortable part. What I have experienced In SBC life, is that we often act like:

• Truth is essential.

• Goodness is assumed.

• Beauty is suspicious.

Sometimes we’d never say that out loud. We just budget like it. We staff like it. We platform like it. We disciple like it.

You may say, “Okay Jimmy, you have my attention, why do you think it is this way?” I’m glad you asked. Let me suggest several overlapping reasons.

Reason 1: We confuse “right doctrine” with “formed disciples.”

Dallas Willard called this the church’s “Great Omission”: we make “Christians” (in-name) but not disciples (in-life).⁶ The Great Commission is “make disciples… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20, ESV). Willard’s point is not that evangelism is wrong—it’s that evangelism without apprenticeship produces “converts without conversion.”

My seminary professor and president, Dr. Charles S. Kelley Jr. said something similar to this and said it repeatedly, referring to our Southern Baptist churches: “We are a harvest-oriented denomination, but we are living in an unseeded generation…. Aggressive evangelism without aggressive discipleship will eventually undo itself.”⁷ That’s not a partisan critique. That’s a Baptist alarm bell.

When discipleship gets thin, goodness and beauty get thin with it. Because goodness and beauty require time. And time is the one resource we refuse to budget.

Reason 2: Our dominant “soil” is American pragmatism, not biblical wisdom.

If you have ever been in a meeting where the deciding factor was “What’s the ROI?” congratulations—you’ve met the unofficial doctrine of Baptist church leadership.

Pragmatism isn’t always evil. But it becomes spiritually corrosive when it replaces the question, “Is it “true?” “Is it “good?” “Is it “beautiful?” with “Did it work?”

Scot McKnight puts it bluntly: “Every church is a culture.”⁸ Culture isn’t neutral. It forms you. And a culture shaped primarily by efficiency will eventually produce efficient Christians—who may or may not be holy. 

I stated something similar to this in a previous blog:

What you measure shapes what you value; what you value shapes what you become. If the most celebrated outcomes are the easiest to report, then leaders will naturally shape churches to favor these outcomes. Over time, a church can become an institution that excels at production while slowly starving formation. And the institution must be protected at all costs, even if it means sacrificing some of its members.

I write this because I have lived it. Some of you reading this have lived it too.

Reason 3: We traded thick formation for thin outrage.

Outrage is easier than sanctification. It is also more profitable in an attention economy.

Carl Trueman describes modern “expressive individualism” as a cultural shift where personal feelings and authenticity become the ultimate moral authority.⁹ In that atmosphere, truth becomes personal preference, goodness becomes self-expression, and beauty becomes “whatever moves me.” That cultural air gets into churches, and then we’re shocked when people treat discipleship like an Apple or Spotify playlist: skip the hard parts, keep the parts that match my mood.

Outrage fits expressive individualism perfectly: it feels like moral clarity without the inconvenience of character. If you don’t believe me, just watch the national news for 5 seconds and you will be convinced. 

Reason 4: We turned “being conservative” into an identity rather than a posture of faithfulness.

Sometimes we’re not defending the faith—we’re defending our tribe.

A decade ago, Russell Moore warned that when Christians imagine themselves as a “moral majority,” political strategy can eclipse the strangeness of the gospel. He argues that if our vision of engagement becomes “a politically viable network,” then “Christ and him crucified will tend to be a stumbling block, not a rallying point.”¹⁰  No matter what you may think of him today, he saw this as an unfolding political reality in our churches. 

When politics becomes the frame, truth becomes talking points, goodness becomes public optics, and beauty becomes branding.

Reason 5: We suspect beauty because we fear it will soften our convictions.

Many evangelicals are nervous that beauty is a backdoor to compromise. And yes—beauty can be weaponized. But that’s like refusing food because some people become gluttons.

Tim Keller, reflecting on Pascal, argues that we often need to help people see Christianity’s attractiveness—its “existing features”—before they are willing to consider its truth.¹¹ That doesn’t mean making the faith “cool.” It means showing that the gospel is not only true, but desirable; not only correct, but glorious.

Beauty is not the enemy of conviction. Beauty is the friend of love.

The problem is not the soil, but what we bring to it

The foundation of truth, goodness and beauty is not the problem. The problem is that we keep showing up to the garden with a bag of salt and wondering why the tree is rotting and the fruit tastes bad. Most of our "sanctification struggles" boil down to two things: we don't know what we’re doing (Ignorance), and we care about the wrong things (Flawed Values). It is not all the problems that we have, but in my opinion, most of the struggle for Christian character stems from these two. 

Ignorance in its various forms

First is the issue of ignorance. Not all ignorance is the same.  And ignorance makes us incompetent.

• Willful Incompetence (The “Ostrich” Phase)

You have probably heard of self-imposed ignorance. That is when you don’t know something because you did not want to know it. A person is incompetent because they have chosen to be. Perhaps you have heard the saying: ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law. This kind of ignorance is a result of the flesh exerting its influence over a believer. While this afflicts all of us in one way or another, there is a different kind of ignorance that I want to address. 

• Unconscious incompetence (The “Delusional” Phase)

This is not knowing what you don’t know. It is a terrible situation because you don’t even see the problems coming, know that you even have them, where they are coming from, or what to do about them. You are doing things but what you are doing actually causes more harm than good over time. 

• Conscious incompetence (The “I Need Help” Phase)

This is knowing what you don’t know. It is when you know that something is either missing, wrong or incomplete. You are not sure which it is. You have cognitive recognition, but you still are not sure what to do about it. Your solutions at best are incomplete and at worst feed the problem. Your solutions today become your problems tomorrow. 

If you realize the three issues of ignorance above and start to learn and change you will move to a place where lasting solutions can be found. 

Now for the second issue we bring to the transcendental soil: flawed values.   

Flawed Values: the invisible toxin shaping our soil

Now we get to the place of my current struggle for real connection: how do “values” relate to the transcendentals for the nourishment of Christian Character?

Values are the operating priorities we actually live by—what we reward, what we fear, what we chase. And here’s the key: values don’t just influence behavior; they shape what we “call” true, good, and beautiful.

Values that quietly sabotage the transcendentals in church life

• Efficiency (Speed) over Faithfulness (Patience).  

If your highest value is speed, you will treat formation as “too slow.” But the fruit of the Spirit doesn’t ripen in a microwave (Galatians 5:22–23).

• Platform over Presence.  

Platform turns truth into performance and goodness into optics. Presence—the slow, embodied life with people—makes truth believable and goodness tangible (1 Thessalonians 2:8).

• Winning over Witness. 

Winning loves the short-term spike, the rush. Witness loves the long-term faithfulness. Winning asks “Who is with us?” Witness asks “Who needs Christ?” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

• Certainty over Wisdom. 

Certainty is not the same thing as truth. I once served under a team leader who took our team to lunch early in my time there. One of the team members asked me, “What is it like working with him?” I answered, “He is never in doubt, but often wrong.” To our leader’s credit, he laughed and agreed. Maybe you know someone like this. Truth can handle questions. Wisdom knows what to do with truth. Proverbs calls wisdom “better than jewels” (Proverbs 8:11), but our value system sometimes treats it as optional—like a church library.

• Image Management over Repentance.  

If the value is “protect the brand,” then confession is dangerous. But without confession, goodness becomes fake and beauty becomes plastic (1 John 1:8–9).

These values didn’t arrive by accident. They are native to American life—especially in a market-driven, media-saturated society. Our churches inhale them the way fish inhale water. Nobody notices until the oxygen runs out.

Two Really Important Questions with Some Imperfect Answers

Question 1: How did this happen? (A very short, very incomplete diagnosis)

A few streams converged:

• Decisionism without apprenticeship. We learned to count decisions but struggled to form disciples.¹² (Okay, “decisionism” may be a made-up word but you get the idea.)

• Market logic. Churches adopted the metrics and instincts of consumer culture: product, brand, target audience, growth strategy, etc.

• Media incentives. Outrage and hot-takes outperform slow wisdom. It is what gets the attention, the clicks and the views.

• Postmodern moral air. Culture demands “tolerance” defined as “no truth claims,” and Christians respond by either (a) screaming, or (b) surrendering.¹³ Certainly you have not forgotten our own SBC “church too” issues involving our Executive Committee. 

• Expressive individualism. The self becomes the center; community and tradition become obstacles.¹⁴

Put those together and you get a Southern Baptist Convention that is excellent at asserting truth—and often weak at “displaying” it as goodness and beauty.

Question 2: What can we do about it?

Let’s get practical. If the soil is the transcendentals, then we need practices that cultivate truth, goodness, and beauty together—because you can’t “think” your way into character. 

First, rebuild truth as discipleship, not trivia

• Teach doctrine as “how to live,” not “how to win arguments.”¹⁵

• Recover biblical catechism: teach the whole counsel of God as a coherent story, not disconnected proof texts.

• Train people in “gentleness” and “respect” as part of apologetics (1 Peter 3:15). Truth is not just asserted; it’s embodied.

Second, rebuild goodness as habit, not hype

N. T. Wright describes virtue as what happens when repeated wise choices become “second nature.”¹⁶ That implies practice, repetition, community, and time.

So:

• Normalize confession and repentance (James 5:16).

• Make service ordinary (Ephesians 2:10).

• Put spiritual disciplines back in the toolbox: prayer, fasting, generosity, Sabbath, biblical priority (Matthew 6:1–24) among others.

Dallas Willard called this apprenticeship: a “24/7 life with Jesus.”¹⁷ That’s not mystical. It’s mundane faithfulness—done over years.

Third, rebuild beauty as honesty, not aesthetics

Beauty in church life is not “better stage lighting.” It’s integrity and wonder.

• Let worship be reverent and joyful—God-centered, not performer-centered (Psalm 96:9).

• Tell the truth about suffering and sin; beauty that lies is just propaganda (Psalm 42; Romans 8:28).

• Create space for art, poetry, testimony, and silence. We are forming loves, not merely transferring information.

Keller’s Pascal point matters here: we don’t “make” Christianity attractive by editing out the hard parts. We reveal the faith’s real beauty—Christ himself.¹⁸

Fourth, audit and repent of our value system

Ask your church the questions nobody wants to put on a slide:

• What do we celebrate? Numbers? Or faithfulness?

• Who do we honor? The gifted? Or the godly?

• What do we fear? Decline? Or sin?

• What do we reward? Results? Or Christlikeness?

Al Mohler’s “theological triage” is helpful for ordering doctrines by urgency.¹⁹ But we also need “moral triage”: the ability to tell the difference between “scraped ego” and “gunshot wound to character.”

Fifth, build a discipleship pipeline that expects transformation

If your church has a clear process for onboarding volunteers but no clear process for training saints, you have accidentally become a nonprofit with hymns.

Make disciple-making boringly normal:

• A clear pathway from “new believer” to “maturing disciple” to “disciple-maker.”

• Older believers actually invest in younger believers (2 Timothy 2:2).

• Character aims stated explicitly: truth + goodness + beauty shaped into Christlikeness (Galatians 4:19).

Finally, stop choosing one transcendental

If we plant the tree of Christian character in the soil of the True while neglecting the Good and the Beautiful, we get brittle Christians who can argue but can’t love.

If we plant in the Good without the True, we get sentimental Christians who want to be kind but can’t name what kindness is.

If we plant in the Beautiful without the True and the Good, we get emotionally moved Christians who confuse goosebumps with holiness.

The goal isn’t to become a “truth church” or a “justice church” or an “aesthetic church.” The goal is to become the kind of people who can say, with integrity, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

So, yes: our values affect our view of the transcendentals. And yes: American church culture can quietly sabotage the soil. But the solution isn’t despair; it’s repentance and replanting. If we don’t get the soil right, nothing else will be right either.

Because the soil is not an idea. The soil is the living God—true, good, and beautiful—calling us into a life where character is not a brand, but a witness.

Endnotes

¹Kreeft, Peter. Wisdom of the Heart: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful at the Center of Us All. p. 173. Kindle Edition. p. 173.

²Lewis, C. S. The Abolition of Man or Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools. HarperOne, 2001, Ch. 1.

³Vanhoozer, Kevin J. The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology. Westminster, John Knox Press, 2005. For a representative quotation, see a review citing p. 362 at: https://www.faith-theology.com/2007/06/kevin-vanhoozer-drama-of-doctrine.html 

⁴Carson, D.A. Sermon: “The Intolerance of Tolerance (Part 1),” The Gospel Coalition. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/sermon/the-intolerance-of-tolerance-part-1/ A full treatment of this is found in Carson’s award-winning book “The Gagging of God.” 

⁵Piper, John. Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. Multnomah Press, 2003. pg. 288.

⁶Willard, Dallas, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship. HarperOne, 2006.

⁷www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/sbc-digest-rainer-receives-mcgavran-church-growth-award-wright-speaks-at-southwestern/ and also in the book: Kelley, Jr., Charles S. The Best Is Yet to Be: The First 100 Years of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2018. pg. 114. 

⁸McKnight, Scot, and Laura Barringer. A Church Called Tov: Transforming a Toxic Culture into a Culturing of Goodness. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2020. Chapter 1. 

⁹Trueman, Carl R. Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022. Pg.26. 

¹⁰www.russellmoore.com/2016/06/21/politics-cant-drive-the-gospel/ 

¹¹timothykeller.com/blog/2014/1/1/pascals-method-for-presenting-the-christian-faith 

¹²www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/sbc-life-articles/an-interview-with-charles-s-kelley-jr/ 

¹³https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/sermon/the-intolerance-of-tolerance-part-1/

¹⁴Trueman, Ibid.

¹⁵Vanhoozer, Ibid.

¹⁶Wright, N. T. After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. HarperOne, 2010. 

     pg. 21.

¹⁷Willard, Ibid. pg. 158.

¹⁸timothykeller.com/blog/2014/1/1/pascals-method-for-presenting-the-christian-faith

¹⁹albertmohler.com/2005/07/12/a-call-for-theological-triage-and-christian-maturity/