James urges us to "lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:21-22, NKJV).
The dictionary defines character as "moral excellence and firmness."
The highest standard of character is set forth in Scripture and exemplified in Jesus Christ. All who are serious about following Christ are exhorted to attain moral excellence through a life of trusting God and resisting the evil influences that surround us and arise from within us.
We know that salvation is a free gift.
However, we also know that a person can lose his salvation by what he does or does not do!
That's where character building comes in.
When we speak of “building Godly character," we are speaking of the process of growing ever closer to God and relying on Him to assist us in our efforts to resist and avoid those things that would cause us to stumble. We mean strengthening ourselves, with God's help, against the evil influences that would lead us back to a life of sin.
Hebrews 12:28-29 states, "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire." Do we have the fear of God that we should have? Do we fear His condemnation on us? More importantly, do we revere and honor God?
The real problem is that we may know God exists, but we often do not honor Him as we should. Do we really put the First Commandment first in our lives?
Our daily lives in the workplace and in our association with this world will lead us away from God unless we choose to give Him first place. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are not of the Father, but of this world (1 John 2:16). Profanity, pleasure seeking, and a hedonistic lifestyle are not of God! When our minds are continually on pleasure and things of this world, we are not of the Father!
The daily thought process needed for properly honoring God has to start early in the morning as we ask God Lo help us honor Him in all we do and say. Our morning prayers must be attuned to honoring God. Our evening prayers should be occasions to ask for forgiveness and to praise God for all that He allows us to have. Would any man want to criticize his future wife? Would any woman want to talk mean spiritedly about her future husband? Of course not! We should feel the same way about God and the use of His name.
It takes thought, and we have to reinforce our thoughts daily to absolutely honor God in the way that He expects from us. Remember, "Our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29)! We owe Him everything! We should honor God with all our substance—with our tithes and offerings. "It is God who gives us the power to get wealth" (Deuteronomy 8:18). So, if we want to have Godly character, we have to honor God in every facet of our lives.
{Spare us from negative Politico media ads!}
{Stop taunting us with unrealistic agendas!}
{But Do Tell us about your Character?}
Don't tell us about what is wrong with the other guy, tell us about what is best to lead America?
Tell us why you are the best person to lead America?
Tell us how you will reverse the outmigration of people?
Tell us how you will fix the Unfair Tax System that has been so favorable over decades to wealthy people like self while hurting the little guy?
Tell is what you will do for factory towns across the states that have redundantly seen good jobs disappear, even when tax credit invested, jobs are still shipped overseas for purposes of larger profits in no regard of own nation?
Tell us what you will do about people living with violence every day?
Tell us what you will do to make education more equitable?
Tell us what you will do to make sure everyone has health care and can afford a home?
Tell us what you will do to reform the pension system in order to protect both taxpayers and retirees?
Remember that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. God really wants us to find Him, discover who He is, and learn what His plan is all about. This can be called the "eureka phenomenon." Ben Franklin may have shouted "Eureka!" at his discovery of electricity with his kite-and-key experiment; the experience of discovering God and His plan for us evokes a similar response. There is no greater satisfaction than to diligently search for something and then find it. God wants us to experience just that feeling of contentment in finding Him and trusting Him to be there for us whenever we need help or encouragement.
This means that the believer must realize that God “allows" us to get our wealth. We certainly get the education and go to work everyday, but it is God who gives us the power to do what we do. We have to make a conscious effort to remember God and His intervention on our behalf. We only see this physical world and the books we read, the buildings we work in, and the money derived from our labor. God is, in a sense, in the background. We have the duty to bring Him to the forefront and give Him the acknowledgement He deserves.
God sees to it that we are really rewarded for finding Him. Unfortunately, we often delay the search for God until we are in dire need and have no place else to go.
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