What does your character say about you?
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.”
Webster’s Dictionary describes character as a distinctive trait, quality, or attribute; the pattern of behavior or personality found in an individual or group; moral constitution; moral strength; self-discipline, fortitude; reputation, a statement about the behavior, qualities, etc. of a person.
The Psalmist says in Psalm 106:3, “Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.”
Do people say you are a person of good character?
Character is not something given to anyone but a trait that has to be earned by believing in yourself and doing what is right. Character comes in two different flavors, one being good and the other being bad.
Character is talked about all through the pages of the Bible. We see that the Lord has developed individuals and kings with bad character and the results of their living is brought down and defeated by the Holy God.
In the book of Job, Satan is roaming about the earth wanting to test the Lord and God tells him in Job 1:8: “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
As we read the book of Job we find that Job did not give in to the temptation of Satan even though he was stripped of his family and wealth. Job held strong to his character and belief in God.
In today’s society so many of us give in to the temptation of the world or Satan, and find ourselves struggling because we have jeopardized our character and belief. We even find people in the pulpits of our churches who are compromising God’s Holy places with the works of Satan and his disciples.
The Apostle Paul told the church at Corinth, “Do not be misled; bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
Your character is you. It is how you are going to be known to your family, friends, and peers. We are to pattern ourselves after the Lord Jesus Christ and know that after this short life on earth we will spend an eternity with Him.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for your example and lead me in the way that I can display character representing you. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday - Ephesians 5:1-7; Monday - Romans 5: 1-5; Tuesday - Genesis 6:9; Wednesday - Proverbs 27:17-20; Thursday - Ezekiel 18:5-9; Friday - Matthew 7:15-23; Saturday Luke 11:37-44.) A082-10