My Mother taught me as a young girl that “pretty is as pretty does.” Isn’t it funny that the one thing we are most blinded by is ourselves?
Our society has become ‘social struck’ and cares more about who we portray ourselves to be than who we actually are. Regardless of what you’re wearing, who styled you, how much your hair cost, how many likes, shares, comments, retweets, follows and hearts you have, your character will always illuminate your value and demonstrate who you are.
A persons character is what defines them. It’s what people see in you. It’s what people say about you when you aren’t present. It’s one of the most important things you have.
Some years ago, a friend of mine was immensely popular. They received invitations to speak all across the country. WOW! I was honored to know them and celebrated their success. The hand of God was on their life as favor was truly abounding on their account. Unfortunately, favor had exposed their character to areas needing growth. The attention and accolades led them to believe their actions we’re made of Teflon and no wrong they committed would stick. Not surprisingly poor judgment almost destroyed their lives. After some years of trying to bounce back, I heard them speak at an event. They shared that, though they had achieved financial gain and notoriety, the one thing they wished they had was their character back.
Romans 13:14 reads,“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
When we allow ourselves to sin, we are satisfying (making provision) our fleshly desires. Your character is what prevents you from doing this. There are just some things we should never do because of who we are.
Do you understand that your character is attached to your name? My parents didn’t play when it came to how we represented our family name. You couldn’t just say anything, wear anything or treat people any kind of way. We were a proud people and taught to honor our lineage.
Take a look in the mirror. Do you like what you see? Do you like who you’ve become? It’s time to take a seat and allow God to minister to your soul. Stop being so busy and allow him to speak and remind you who you were created to be and that he makes no mistakes.
Allow me to pose this question, “Does your character show your faith or your flesh?” Though you may think you are happy and living your ‘life like it’s golden,’ your life built on the wrong type of character will begin to take a toll on you and you’ll begin to feel empty.
Please note: your pretend character does not fool God. He see’s your heart. He knows your intentions. It takes more than you publicly speaking of love for God Almighty. Our actions demonstrate our character and should draw attention to Him and not to us.
Titus 1:15-16 teaches us, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”
It’s not too late to begin to shift and work on becoming the amazing person you know you were born to be. Just like an actor, you can segue in and out of character. Let the ‘old you’ know that it’s no longer employed and the real you is now in charge!
