Character

What is character? According to the dictionary it is the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. This is a big deal; your mental and moral attributes all laced in one. Other synonyms for character are personality, nature, disposition, temperament etc.

These attribute is what personifies you and sets you aside from your counterparts. It tells others who you are and it also tells others what you are likely to do. And so if you are someone with an angry personality, then the expectation will be that a small inconvenience will blow up into a gigantic catastrophe; and even if not an inconvenience – your response will be brash anyway. And as for someone with a gentle personality; their genteel with calm many stormy waters. Our character will either diffuse or compound the bad, good and ugly.

And so you see that God wants to get to our character, because this says who we are. What is your character like? What is it like for people to encounter you on a daily basis? What is it like for those who live with you? Are you gentle? Are you kind? Are you approachable? Do you have the personality of Christ?

So how will you get the personality of Christ? You will do that by allowing Romans 5:4 to work for you. This scripture tells us about Christ’s character, and how this can be worked into our lives. It says we glory in tribulation. Now that is a no-no for many of us. Glory means you are happy! Happy in tribulation! Yes. Happy in tribulation and suffering. In fact tribulation has its work to do in our lives. Tribulation breaks down those hard places; those anger points; those jealous points; those rude points. Yes, it breaks down those prideful points; those points that do not speak well of our character. In fact this breaking down produces perseverance within us; the perseverance to go on in the venture of character change or character building. The one and only reason why many Christians do not change is because they will not persevere. And without persevering through the strain and the pressing, that character of Christ cannot be birthed in us. Only tribulation will birth perseverance; and only perseverance can birth Christ’s character; and only Christ’s character can birth a hope in us that does not disappoint.

Many people ask, ‘Why am I not changing?’ Well we won’t change until we persevere in what will bring about change in our lives. It is heavy lifting to change from our old ways; yes to change from gossipying ad back-biting. It is not a walk in the park to stop those awful ways that we have gotten used to and have become us. However when we allow God and we persevere in the ‘new creation’ process – and do not run when our feet is being held to the fire, then God can brand us and we will be His; then we will shine and reflect Him, because our character would be transformed as our minds are being renewed!

So this is a task we must undertake; perseverance for change to come to us!

written by Linda Faith

Linda faith is the Editor in Chief of Jewels Magazine. She co-pastors along with her husband Revival Worship Church, Tampa. She is a prolific writer and powerful speaker, inspiring many women to be all God has called them to be. She is the founder of Joy Women’s conference which reaches out to empower, inspire and motivate women in their faith walk. She was a software developer before she started writing.
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