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“Unless the vessel is clean, what you pour into it turns sour” (Latin Proverb).
CONCERNING CHARACTER, IT’S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT GOOD CHARACTER COMES FROM OUR DECISIONS, NOT OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. Those who spend their lives waiting for their ship to come in, thinking that their true character can’t be developed until they get their big break, are turning one of life’s great priorities upside-down. Choices concerning our character should come first, not last. If and when we do get the circumstances we’re hoping for, those circumstances will turn out to be seriously disappointing if our character isn’t what it ought to be. Remember: “Unless the vessel is clean, what you pour into it turns sour.”
But if it’s important to think rightly about our character in relation to the future, it’s also important in relation to the past. There is a Jewish proverb which says, “A man is what he is — not what he used to be.” This is a double-edged truth. On the sobering side, we need to recognize that good character in the past is no substitute for good character in the present. What we are is what we are, not what we used to be. Having been a good person at some point in the past doesn’t give us a lifetime exemption from any further effort.
The other side of this truth, however, is encouraging. If our character has been bad in the past, that fact doesn’t doom us to having the same character forever afterward. We’re not inherently bad; we just need to change for the better. If we do, then our character is what it is, not what it used to be. I repeat: character comes from our decisions, not our circumstances. And freedom of the will means that better decisions are ours for the making every single day. Improving our character is a process that’s always available to us — even right now!
Compared to the things we typically spend our time working on, the building of solid character needs to get more attention. What we are (our character) is a good deal more important than what we have (our possessions). It’s even more important than what we do (our accomplishments). When the final tally is made, what we will want more than anything is to have had hearts that were true and just. So let’s devote more of our energy to this priority.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
