Character Developer

… “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. 1Cor.2:9

We live in a society where having good character seems to be a thing of the dark ages or even mythical.  Bad behavior paves the streets and low morals parades like a flag further demoralizing the value of character within our society. Instant gratification and self-idolization are constantly on display. The thought of enduring difficulty or pain for achievement is regarded as preposterous. Unfortunately, we take the same approach in our walk with God. Our perception of God and His nature becomes skewed according to our needs. We view God as a cosmic feel good machine whose sole purpose is to make us feel good by any means necessary. Whenever we do not feel good when we approach Him negative thoughts regarding His ability and nature brews within our minds. This approach to God and His ways will always hinder our progress.  God’s ways and thoughts are not like ours. We are more concerned about self-pleasing whereas God is more concerned about character development. What? Yes, you heard me. God is a character developer. He is about helping you become the best version of self – one who has integrity, compassion, wise, strong, honest, courage, etc.  He is about helping you become a person who is whole and equipped to fulfill His purpose for your life.

Fulfilling this purpose, however, requires us to often go through painful and difficult moments. These moments sometimes isolates, breaks and even shatter us. Yet it is these moments that are employed as tools in developing our character. These moments test us to see whether or not we will fall prey to the subtle beckoning of the seasonal pleasure of sin or stand firmly upholding the weight of integrity. The Bible says “eyes have not seen, no ear has heard, and no mind can imagine what God has prepared for those who love Him.” Simply meaning God already has all the things that will satiate our every desire but is preparing us through the hardship of life to be able to attain them. The difficulties we face evaluates our level of love, trust, and character. If we possess good character, then there is nothing good that God will withhold from us as we continue to walk uprightly. It therefore, behooves us to consistently display good character as character counts.

Since those good things are already prepared for us, the question becomes are we prepared for them? Are at a place where we can handle the blessings that God is anxiously waiting to pour out on us? Do we have the character needed to be good stewards of that which we will receive? Will we allow the character developer to have His way in us?

12/28/2016 Dr.R.A.