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Being a Person of CharacterPhilippians 1: 9-11 (NLT)

I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keepon growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, sothat you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filledwith the fruit of your salvation—the

righteous character

produced in your life by Jesus Christ—forthis will bring much glory and praise to God.

Character is the set of qualities that make up a person.

Many would mix up character and personality.

Character Vs Personality

Character is a set of behaviour traits that define an individual. It determines whether a person willeffectively achieve goals, be forthright in dealing with others and will obey the laws and rules of thegroup. Although character is related to personality, it is not quite the same thing. Personality isprimarily

inborn traits

, while character consists of

learned behaviour or the summation of your attitude

. Personality is the visible aspects of your behaviour. Personality traits are

individual,subjective and vary widely

. But character traits are

constant, objective and timeless.

Take a look at the people around you, they seem to be born with certain personality traits ortendencies. Some people are shy, while others are outgoing and talkative. Some people seem to beleaders, some are more analytical, some are high risk takers, some are just more careful. One of theways to classify your personality is whether you are an

extrovert

or an

introvert

. Anotherclassification is whether you tend to be

task oriented

people oriented.

Whichever describesyou the best, it does not determine how much God is going to use you. You can be used by Godgreatly regardless of your personality; it is a matter of which position suits you the best.Character on the other hand, character is typically learned from your parents, teachers, leaders andfriends. This learning comes from being taught directly or from observations of others. Characterrelates to attitudes and values.For example there is no such thing as a person having a dishonest personality. Honesty is a positivecharacter trait and dishonesty is a negative character trait. Whether you are an introvert orextrovert, your character concerns your attitudes toward doing difficult tasks, dealing with otherpeople and following the rules of your culture. It is the judgment of the type of person you are. It isthe real you, the quality that God is concern with. It is the key in determining true success.Although character is taught to you as a child, it can vary or change with situations and experience. The good news is this that in Christ we are all new creations! I have seen many cases of people thatwere fearful and timid preached the word of God boldly.

Character Vs Talents and SkillsCharacterTalents/Skills

Must be developedIt’s inborn or can be provided Take time and effort and requiresconsistencyCan be instantaneous, also can bedeveloped through practice and timeInvolves your relationship with God andothersInvolve your relationship to the task. Youcan develop a skill or improve your talentsby yourself Is an inward measureIs an outward measureIt is lifelong or even eternal It is often temporal and requires you tochange according to the need of your taskor culture

I am always proud of all those talented people. People that can act, sing, dance, draw, design, playdifferent kind of instruments, excellent public speaking skills, some can write, some can count, somecan analyse, some are good in sports, and etc. But friends without character we will often celebratea

“one hit wonder”

, even in church.

John Wooden

, the greatest coach in the history of US College basketball says:

“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what

you really are

while your

reputation

is merely what

others think you are.”

All these years, I have seen countless of talented people walking in and out of the church. Many thatcan really sing, but are they the worship leader. People that can really preach, but they are not thecell leaders. People that can really play all sorts of instruments, but they are not in the worship team.Why? Because one thing we can be sure,

God is more interested in our character than ourtalents.Matt 25: 14-30

– The Parable of the Talents. (

It’s a test of character

) The focus is not on how many talents you have with you; it’s about your character to contain thattalent. Can I say that if the servant with 5 talents behaves like the one with 1 talent, eventually theservant with 1 talent will catch up. God is wise and fair; probably the guy with one talent is muchyounger than the one with 5. Probably one is a manager, one is a supervisor and another is a worker.Get me? I would say I am the guy with lesser talents, but I am faithful in what God has given me,today I am doing more for God. So it’s not about how many talents you have, it’s about whether youare able to hold it together and multiply it.So, since character is so important, what contributes to a Godly Character? What is the characterthat we should develop in our lives so that God can mightily use us? What are the qualities that weshould build as a believer?

3 Qualities of a Godly Character

You need to have a great sense of

Responsibility -Romans 12:8

(NLT)

If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God hasgiven you leadership ability, take the

responsibility

seriously. And if you have a gift forshowing kindness to others, do it gladly. You ensure that things are done when the task is given to you. You give your best to the role thatwas given to you. You will almost be sure that when you are a responsible person, you become areliable person as well. To measure a person’s maturity is to measure his sense of responsibility. Youare a person that delivers your word, you walk your talk. You keep your promises.

It’s not hard to list of the traits of a responsible person, but let us look at some exampleof the irresponsible person.A liar:

“I didn’t do that!”, “I don’t know what happen”, “It wasn’t me!”

A blamer:

“Your fault, not mine”, “I will be rich, if I don’t have you kids”, “I can do better if youdidn’t bother me!” “if not for you, I would already be very successful”

A quitter: “

I told you it will never work”, “Oh…it’s impossible!” “It’s too difficult” “You are not me,you won’t understand”

A justifier:

“Well, I don’t have good education, that’s why I didn’t get a head.”“If only I were taller, darker and more muscular” “If only my family were richer” “I would have thegirl of my dream”

A denier:

“Nothing wrong”, “Things are fine”, “What mistakes?”

The worst case of being irresponsible is to say that, well no matter what wrong I have done, God willforgive. How many of you know that there are still consequences to the things that we have done?

The foundation of CHARACTER is the ACCEPTANCE of Responsibility!

We all can easily write a book on mistakes we have made, words we shouldn’t say, actions weshouldn’t commit… but no one would read it, and no one would buy it, UNLESS… at the end of your story there’s a BUT I CHANGED. You took up the responsibility and you make it right.

You begin to decide in your mind, heart and body thatI’m going to live a right life…I’m going to make sure that I’m a promise keeper…I’m going to take responsibility for my life…I’m going to keep my words even if it costs me…

What is the point of being responsible when my bosses or even my parents are not. When my friendscouldn’t care less… well, that is exactly why you need to be even more responsible, that is what Godis looking for.When others are not being responsible, does that give you the license to be irresponsible?

Theanswer is NO!

Just because the person with one talent is not responsible, it doesn’t mean that theother two can slow down, at least they are better than the one with one. It’s almost so common forpeople to come to me and say at least I am not as bad… well, friends you live this life once, and youare responsible for your life. You should make the most out of it. When we meet with God one day,He will not compare you with others, He will look at every individual and we need to pay an accountto all that we have said and done.

Hebrews 4: 13

– and there is no creature hidden from His sight,but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.We all need to pay an account to God at the end of the day. No matter how much you are able to justify yourself, at the end of the day, you know there are some things that you need to beresponsible to it. That means,

if others did not flush

after they use the toilet, you would. Others throw tissues intothe drain, you would not. People are simply printing personal stuff from your company, and youwould not. People are wasting away all the companies’ resources, because they say that anyway, itscompany money, but you would not. People would blame God for not answering prayers, but youwould seek God to find what is in God’s heart. Cell is not growing; I am responsible to bring friends toreach out and to pray for my members.It’s your life, you are responsible to build a strong relationship with God and you are responsible foryour future.

You need to have

IntegrityProverbs 10

– He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he whole perverts his wayswill become known.Integrity means you are who you are in the dark and in the light. You are

consistent

.Integrity means that you are the same with what you

believe

and how you

act.

Your valuesand your actions are the same. Integrity is the foundation of character. It is about beingtruthful and honest to yourself.

Here’s a simple story of a father with his two children.

My children were eight and six and we were walking out of a grocery store when I decided topurchase a soft drink. The cheapest brand was only twenty-five cents and that was all the change Ihad on me at the time. I told them that they would have to share one between them. I inserted themoney and as luck would have it, out came two soft drinks. Both Josh and Britney saw this as theirlucky day.