Be of Good Character!

Character.

We all have it, but exactly what is character?

Character is what others see in us. It’s how we’re judged. Character is what defines us. It’s how we’re viewed by new friends and old. Character will be what others remember after we die.

How are you building your character? Do you strive to do good deeds, say kind words, and rescue lost puppies and kitties? Okay, that “lost puppy and kitty” part was a little sarcastic, but really, do you actively work to improve your character?

Colossians 3:12-15 – “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”

True character is how we behave in good times and bad. In hardship and triumphs. Anyone can act. But when it comes down to walking the walk, how do you stand?

Romans 5:3-5 – “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Work to build your character for the Kingdom of God.     

Matthew 12:35 – “The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”

This, being the day we celebrate the amazing life of a man of great character, Martin Luther King Jr., I’ll close with a few lines from his “I Have a Dream” speech.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Be of good character, my friends, so that we may be a light in this dark world.

Happy Monday, from Michele Morris!