Did you know that your character matters? I mean seriously, those mental and moral qualities which are distinctive to humanity, to us as individuals, truly matter. I’m not sure we realize the importance of our character. I happened to be reading from a wonderful book, one that many love and others reject, but the importance of character really made me reflect on my life, past and present. The more I reflected, the more I realized some of my thoughts and actions, let’s just say, didn’t meet the standard. Many of you reading this post, if your honest, could or would say the same. Staying true to the truth can be rather difficult. So, to remind us of the importance of our character, let’s look at an example and see what we can learn and apply in our lives.
First, there was a man named Joseph, who lived sometime around 1800 BCE, or approximately 3,600 years ago, during the times of the Pharoh’s. That’s a lot of years ago. However, the qualities of character remained the same throughout time. In Joseph case, when his character was tested, he passed with no exceptions. His loyalty to family, friends, leadership, where unmarked. He was honest, moral, patient, kind, tolerant, and forgiving. Even when he was sold into slavery by his brothers, lied about concerning moral behavior, kind to those who would forget about him or betray him, along with forgiving others, he never held a grudge. He actually blessed those who had betrayed him and was patient and tolerant when treated as a slave and imprisoned because of a lie. The benefits and outcome of passing the character test was co-ruling with the Pharoh’s for 71 years, which gave him opportunities to help those he loved and lavish all the benefits he could on those he ruled.
What about those who did not pass the character test. Those who were dishonest, full of greed, mean, petty, selfish, and disloyal. There are more who failed than have ever passed. Unfortunately, they brought disgrace to their families, destroyed people and companies, compromised themselves for selfish and greedy reasons, were only loyal to their interest and many experienced moral failures. But there’s more, like unmerciful, unforgiving, unreasonable, intolerant, and dishonest in their dealings.
You know the question really boils down to, have we missed opportunities for greatness because of the quality of our character? I think it just might be true for most of us. However, there is hope! You and I can turn from those qualities that are less than desirable and destructive to qualities of character that would pass the test:
- Identify those areas that are less than attractive, that cause destruction in one’s life and the life of others. Once identified do the opposite. If there is dishonesty become honest no matter the price. If your morally tempted to cheat in anyway run in the other direction. These are just a couple of examples.
- Identify the characteristics that add value to one’s life and others, like patients, kindness, honesty, tolerance, and loyalty. Become a person of value and like Joseph it will pay off.
- Never give up! If a character failure occurs forgive yourself, learn from the error and move forward. You were created for more, so go after it with the foundation of your character.
After reading this post and you realize you could use some help, let me encourage you to turn to the only one who can help you. His reign is from our beginning to the end; his character is flawless and he will help anyone who calls on him for help. He is the Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He gave all of his love so you could have an abundant and everlasting life. His love was His Son, Jesus Christ, who died in our place to pay the debt for our sins and take all our sins away. He was buried and resurrected from the grave on the third day. He is alive and the witnesses are many. Take the time to call out to Him. “For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.” Go ahead call out to Jesus and you will be saved. Oh yea, and the quality of your character will change.
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