Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Character Development



Child development is a major focus of our society; so much so that the term “child development’ returns over 226 million articles on the web.    Even in the church, much of our efforts are directed to our children and students in developing moral character, teaching the ethics, Christian principles and values that are so important as children move into adolescence and early adulthood.


However, character development is not supposed to stop in our 20s.  Quite the contrary, almost everyone I know understands how much of their character has been continuously developing as they continue to grow and learn and mature.


Every day we make choices.  Character can be defined as the decisions that have been formulated and secured long before the choice is presented.   Joseph showed that in the decision that he had made not to violate himself and offend the Lord and his earthly master when Potiphar’s wife came to tempt him.   In the same way, Daniel “resolved not to defile himself” by eating at the King’s table.


It’s our mission in life to continually develop our character.   The Apostles and disciples of Jesus were merely human.  Their character was flawed, they argued over who was greater and were jealous of each other.   However over time, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, these men and women became strong and victorious.  The Lord had built their character through example and through experiences including suffering.  In Romans chapter 5, the Apostle Paul explains the process starting with our coming to faith:

 “ Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 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.”


When we realize how much we have to learn, how much our character needs to be developed we can resolve to keep our eyes and our heart on our personal character development.  In the Book of Hebrews we are encouraged, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith"

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