On Character
Character is what we truly are, compared with what we seem to be. You can appear to be generous even when your heart is that of a skinflint.
Character is different from piety. By piety, I mean a personal relationship with God. By character, I mean the quality of the person. Even so, they are certainly inseparable; God is quite interested in character, and there is something wrong if a pious person does not have a good moral character. . .
When considering what makes for good moral character, the word virtue comes to mind. The ancient Greeks used the word to mean "excellence." I would like to consider the classic definition of virtue as part of our description of character.
In the Greek catalog, there were four cardinal virtues - four things that you should never leave home without. The first is discernment. Unless you are able to discern what is really going on in a situation, what people are feeling, and what is important, you will always make wrong decisions. My theory is that the greatest moral disputes of any age are differences not so much in moral theory as in the power of discernment. This virtue is the essence of Paul's advice: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2).
The second virtue is courage. It is the power to do well when the air is turbulent and the going gets tough. It is having the character to do well when things are tempting, when things are painful. It is easy to be a mother when a baby is cooing and gurgling over breakfast; it takes courage to be a mother when the child suffers from a terrible and incurable handicap. Courage is the power to do well in the face of a threat - to your life, to your security, to your future, to the things you hold dear. The Old Testament is a symphony of variation on the theme of courage.
Temperance is the third virtue. It means being in charge of your own life. To manage, to control, to be able to orchestrate all the stuff that is going on inside. Of course, by control of one's life, I do not mean that a Christian gallops ahead on his own, oblivious of Christ's lordship. A temperate person gives control to God, and in turn accepts genuine responsibility as a challenge from God. The temperate person does not let circumstances, substances, or other people control him. Like other gifts of the Spirit, temperance needs to be practiced, lest we lose it.
The fourth virtue is justice. The person of justice determines always to be fair and does not treat one person differently from another. It is rejecting questions such as Whose wheel is squeaking the loudest? or Who will reward me the most? The prophets called out for justice, stating God's case against Israel: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8). . .
In the long run, God will not ask how happy you were. He will ask, What sort of person were you?
-From "Basic Moral Characteristics" by Lewis Smedes in Practical Christianity; part of The Inspirational Study Bible: New Century Version by Max Lucado
Character is different from piety. By piety, I mean a personal relationship with God. By character, I mean the quality of the person. Even so, they are certainly inseparable; God is quite interested in character, and there is something wrong if a pious person does not have a good moral character. . .
When considering what makes for good moral character, the word virtue comes to mind. The ancient Greeks used the word to mean "excellence." I would like to consider the classic definition of virtue as part of our description of character.
In the Greek catalog, there were four cardinal virtues - four things that you should never leave home without. The first is discernment. Unless you are able to discern what is really going on in a situation, what people are feeling, and what is important, you will always make wrong decisions. My theory is that the greatest moral disputes of any age are differences not so much in moral theory as in the power of discernment. This virtue is the essence of Paul's advice: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2).
The second virtue is courage. It is the power to do well when the air is turbulent and the going gets tough. It is having the character to do well when things are tempting, when things are painful. It is easy to be a mother when a baby is cooing and gurgling over breakfast; it takes courage to be a mother when the child suffers from a terrible and incurable handicap. Courage is the power to do well in the face of a threat - to your life, to your security, to your future, to the things you hold dear. The Old Testament is a symphony of variation on the theme of courage.
Temperance is the third virtue. It means being in charge of your own life. To manage, to control, to be able to orchestrate all the stuff that is going on inside. Of course, by control of one's life, I do not mean that a Christian gallops ahead on his own, oblivious of Christ's lordship. A temperate person gives control to God, and in turn accepts genuine responsibility as a challenge from God. The temperate person does not let circumstances, substances, or other people control him. Like other gifts of the Spirit, temperance needs to be practiced, lest we lose it.
The fourth virtue is justice. The person of justice determines always to be fair and does not treat one person differently from another. It is rejecting questions such as Whose wheel is squeaking the loudest? or Who will reward me the most? The prophets called out for justice, stating God's case against Israel: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8). . .
In the long run, God will not ask how happy you were. He will ask, What sort of person were you?
-From "Basic Moral Characteristics" by Lewis Smedes in Practical Christianity; part of The Inspirational Study Bible: New Century Version by Max Lucado
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