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Strong Character or Sinful Character



Today I am writing about character and the positive and negative traits that can emerge in people over the period of years of training and practice.  You may ask, how does training and practice evolve into positive character traits or create negative character flaws?  Well, just like preparing for a sports event, a singing competition, a career in medicine and all the other things we want to master and win at.  

We must also prepare for being a person of great character so we carry ourselves in a positive manner when dealing with family, business and personal relationships.  We train ourselves through habits and those habits will eventually bring forth a positive or negative character in us.  Today in class I gave a presentation to my high school students about character and how it can play a major role in the development of their family, work and personal lives.

I went to my main source of knowledge to see what the bible said about character and its role in our lives.  In Proverbs 6: 16-19, it is written that "There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers".  

Likewise in 2nd Peter 1: 5-8, "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ". 

What do these verses tell us about character and how God expects us to act towards our fellow man and he himself.  Growing up I remember so many times when my parents (who were awesome) by the way, would speak to my brothers and I about having good character.  My dad was a career police officer and one that was held in high esteem by his peers and even the folks he dealt with that had broken the law.  He was a man of high character and exhibited many of the positive traits that the bible speaks of when dealing with people.  Regardless of the situation, as tense as it could be, he did his absolute best to be respectful and honorable to them.

My mom was also a person of high character.  She was giving, caring, kind, loving, considerate and always looking out for the best interest of others.  I cannot recall a time where she spoke ill of someone else or even said a curse word.  Even up to her passing she was still sending money to various charities that were dear to her heart to make sure those that were less fortunate were taken care of.  I learned from my parents that it is important to have good character, show kindness to others and keep focus on helping people in life. 

God gave us his word to help us be better at serving him and others.  Being consistent with it is the challenge most of us face, but God is always right on track and never strays from his word.  We can check ourselves by reading the word of God above and thinking about where we stand with our character.  

1- How is your character development going in life?

2- Have you strayed away from being a good person?

3- What changes can you make to become a person of high character?

Lord, please help me to be the best I can.  Help me to display the positive traits mentioned in Peter and avoid the negative sinful activity mentioned in Proverbs.  Amen




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