What is Character?
“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” – J. C. Watts
It seems that over the past few years we have heard a lot about character. During the 2000 election season we heard the phrase “character matters”. The problem is the more we hear about character the less we seem to see it. Our countries leadership has become more and more deceptive, manipulative and self-centered. Business leaders have been greedy and dishonest in business. It is even thought that under the right circumstances it is okay to lie or take what is not rightfully yours.
CHARACTER IS AN IDENTITY
As a Success-Minded Person you must understand and believe that character always matters. It is not what you do in public but who you are all the time. It does not change with position or income, character is all that matters. Salvation Army preacher, Samuel Brengle said “The final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank or title a man has born, or the office he has held, but only the quality of his deeds and the character of his mind and heart.”
THE ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER
Character is not one quality of the Success-Minded Person but a collection of all right and good qualities. Character is made up of honesty, loyalty, faith, integrity, friendship and much more. The thing that makes character so key is that it must be in a person’s life all the time or it is not there at all. It is like truth – you cannot have a partial truth. Truth is truth of it is a lie – no in between. V. Gilbert Beers said “A person of integrity is one who has established a system of values against which all of life is judged.”
A REASONABLE REQUEST
To demand that people possess character may seem like a high expectation. In fact, some may tell you it cannot be done. “After all,” they say, “we are only human.” I agree that as humans we are sinful by nature and that unless we constantly work at it, we will fall into the darker things of life. But I disagree that being human is a handicap. Jesus came to save sinners (humans) and to give us the power to live lives of good character. Those who allow compromise in their life – on any level – are either lazy or foolish. You have the power to have good character.
WHAT DO WE DO?
Pastor Jack Hyles said, “Character comes by repetition of right until right is done subconsciously.” We live right by doing right. So what is it we must do? Over the next few weeks I want to share with you the 12 fundamentals of good character. Or as I like to see them, the 12 fundamentals for successful living. None are beyond our ability to do. None are unreasonable. All are essential to the life of the Success-Minded Person. These principles will change your life and the world you live in. It is as Thomas Carlyle said, “Make yourself an honest man and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the world.”
© 2011 John Patrick Hickey
