Character

Prov. 11:⁵ (MSG) “Moral character makes for smooth traveling; an evil life is a hard life. ⁶ Good character is the best insurance; crooks get trapped in their sinful lust.”

An anonymous quote defines character as, “…who you are when no one is watching.” Examples of character would be, a woman that overcomes shyness to testify before God’s people that,

 “Whereas I was blind but now I can see!” That is courage and that is character.Courage is one of the six bedrocks of character. When a man decides to wake up twenty minutes earlier to work out and he actually follows through, that is discipline and that is character. Discipline is another bedrock of character.

A teacher that is able to discern that the student causing all the trouble in class is actually just bored with the current activities and then channels the child and brings out the genius from a student that would otherwise have been tagged as delinquent. That is Vision and it is character. When someone continues to sit for an examination in spite of recurring failure and then eventually passes the examination, that is Endurance; endurance is another bedrock of character.

When someone is able to see beyond the façade of “I am fine” and identifies the pain people are going through. And goes even further to extend a helping hand and offer a listening ear. That happens a lot in God’s Favourite House. That is Compassion and that is character. A parent refuses to take a lucrative job just because he or she wants to have more time for his or her family. That is Self-sacrifice and that is character. People without character will go for the job and let the television train their children.

Courage, discipline, vision, endurance, compassion, and self-sacrifice are the six bedrocks of character. Meaning, to have character you need courage, discipline, vision, endurance, compassion, and self-sacrifice. There may be more but these are the six we will be looking at over the next couple of weeks. I believe God that by the time this season is over, the world will be a better place because our own character will be stronger. You and I will grow stronger in courage, discipline, vision, endurance, compassion, and self-sacrifice.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, I pray that courage, discipline, vision, endurance, compassion, and self-sacrifice will be found and strengthened in me, in Jesus Name. Amen!