Word of the Week - godly Character

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, Character; and Character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.  Romans 5:3-5

What is Character”  The Oxford English Dictionary defines Character as “a distinctive mark impressed, engraved, or otherwise formed”.  Character is the essence of who we are on the inside – the internal system that guides us in all that we do, which becomes our permanent engraved nature.  You do not have to be a believer to have strong moral Character, in fact there are many great people throughout history who have displayed amazing Character who did not profess faith.  Godly Character includes all of the core virtues of moral Character such as honesty, courage, patience, integrity and self-control but takes Character to a new level with Christlike virtues like humility, joy, faith, hope and love.  As Christians our objective is to take on the Character and nature of Christ so that His ways become our ways.  In order to develop Christlike Character we must first be born of the spirit by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17.  This is the part of the Character building process that is a gift from God that we can do nothing to earn or achieve, it is of the Spirit and given by Grace.  “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and not from yourselves; it is the gift of God not by works, so than no one can boast” Ephesians 2:8-9.  Once we become a new creation in Christ, then our purpose is to Glorify God and produce fruit with our lives and this requires Character, which I believe requires effort and intentionality.  So how do we build and develop our Character?  My good friend Drayton Nabors who wrote “Case for Character’, Looking at Character from a Biblical Perspective, makes the case that to develop godly Character we must intentionally put on and practice godly virtues through training and repetition, the disciplines of our faith.  Similar to daily workouts for a professional athlete, we must strive daily towards developing godly virtues so they become our nature.  It requires intentional effort and discipline.  Godly Character is forged and developed over time and the byproduct of Godly Character is that we produces good fruit by becoming human beings who are naturally inclined to do the right thing.  This is the goal and evidence of godly Character and the highest purpose of our lives as Christ followers.  This Glorifies God!!!!!!God is so good that He blesses us with truth that leads to “Life” and we get the benefit.  This is definitely the case with godly Character.Have a great week.-Duane