Building & Maintenance
by Debbie Poer
In our world today when someone says a person has strong character, they often mean it is someone who is career oriented or ambitious, working hard to be the best at what they do and wanting to conquer the world. They promote and advertise themselves. We might use words and phrases like tenacious, confident, or manage stress well. They have good professional skills but may not be able to tell you their deepest understanding of or purpose in life.
As Christians we are called to have a very different understanding of character – what it means and how we develop ours. When describing a Christian who has strong character, we may use some of the same descriptive words, but there is a deeper component to their character. As I think of a Christ-follower who has strong character, I think of the person who is tenacious, confident, and manages stress well, because they also have distinct moral and ethical qualities guided by their faith and their understanding of Scripture, not by what the world says or how it describes it.
Developing strong character from a biblical perspective means that we have fully surrendered our life to Christ and are striving to live as he commanded us, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27).
Building and maintaining our Christian character means we must:
Have right thoughts – “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Phil. 4:8).
Guard our hearts— “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).
Keep good company— “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
Live according to the fruit of the Spirit—"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-25).
Live the talk— “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us” (Titus 2:7-8).
Throughout my life I have known several people who have been great examples of having those distinct qualities and whether they know it or not, have led me to strive to be a person having a strong character.
In my early years there was Kitty. She was the wife of the pastor in the church where I worshipped growing up. As a young person I remembered her primarily as a friend of my mother. But as a young adult I began to learn from her – how to be a wife and a mother, but most importantly how to be a woman who has right thoughts, guards her heart, keeps good company, and is guided by the fruit of the Spirit.
In later years there were Ken and Jinnie. They served as long-term workers at TCM’s Haus Edelweiss in Heiligenkreuz, Austria during the years that my husband and I lived and served on the staff team there. Ken and Jinnie spent three months each year volunteering alongside the staff at the Haus and we had the privilege to observe them living the faith they proclaimed. Jesus was never far from their conversation, they were prayer warriors, and their marriage set a great example of what a Christian marriage should look like.
As we look at the world, observing and hearing all the bad that takes place, we often feel overwhelmed and lost. But as believers we know that if we each keep our eyes on Jesus and continually work on building stronger character, we can make a difference. And if we each work on making a difference in our own corner of the world, we can make a difference in the world as a whole.
What kind of character traits are you building and strengthening?
