CHARACTER
COUNTS
BREAD
3 Not
only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering
produces perseverance; 4 perseverance,
character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has
poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)
1 A good
name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver
or gold. Proverbs 22:1 (NIV)
20 Wisdom
calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; 21 at the head of the noisy
streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: 22 "How long will you simple
ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools
hate knowledge? 23 If you
had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my
thoughts known to you. Proverbs 1:20-23
(NIV)
6 Righteousness
guards the man of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner. Proverbs 13:6 (NIV)
16 A wise
man fears the Lord and shuns evil,
but a fool is hotheaded and reckless. Proverbs 14:16 (NIV)
10 A wife
of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. 11 Her husband has full
confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10-11 (NIV)
33 Do not
be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Come back to your senses as
you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say
this to your shame. 1 Corinthians
15:33-34 (NIV)
18 Timothy,
my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made
about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19 holding on to faith and a good
conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. 1 Timothy 1:18-19 (NIV)
7 Have
nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself
to be godly. 8 For
physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things,
holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:7-8 (NIV)
20 But
you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the
Holy Spirit. 21 Keep
yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to
bring you to eternal life. Jude 1:20-21
(NIV)
BUTTER
“Character
in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.” Oswald
Chambers
“Every
time we resist the slightest temptation, we honor God. Every time we overcome even the smallest
problem by trusting and obeying our Lord Jesus, God is glorified in our
lives. Whenever we choose character over
convenience, faithfulness over ease, or honesty over deceit, we bring honor to
the Lord Himself.” Robert
J. Morgan
“Only
a believer who has faced distress can develop steadfastness. That in turn
develops character (dokimēn [‘proof’] has here the idea
of ‘proven character’), which in turn results in hope. As believers suffer,
they develop steadfastness; that quality deepens their character; and a
deepened, tested character results in hope (i.e., confidence) that God will see
them through.” Bible Knowledge
Commentary
“We
can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ
likeness.” Rick
Warren
“A
good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by
you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on
hearts, not on marble.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“Leadership is a potent
combination of character and strategy. But if you must be without one, be
without strategy.” General Norman Schwarzkopf
“The Beatitudes are conditional promises of blessing.
Letting Jesus work His character in us is the condition; blessedness is the
promise. Pray for yourself, that you will enjoy the blessing of being the
person God wants you to be, as God molds you in the character of His beloved
and well-pleasing Son.” Sylvia
Gunter
“Seek,
O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your
character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May
your faith be no ‘baseless fabric of a vision,’ but
may it be built of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume
the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May
your convictions be deep, your love real, your desire earnest. May your whole
life be so firm and strong, that all the blasts of hell and the storms of earth
shall never be able to remove you.” Charles
Spurgeon
“Nearness to Christ, intimacy with Him, assimilation to His character – these are the elements of a ministry of power.” Horatius Bonar
“That is life. It’s
composed of a million choices. And most of those choices seem
insignificant, unimportant, unimpressive, and uninteresting. But
character is developed when we continue to make the next, right choice.
And character creates influence. And influence creates legacy. So
if you want to leave an amazing legacy, just keep doing the next right
thing. Four generations from now, people probably won’t remember your
name. But someone you love will be different because of you.” Laura Black
“Steel
is iron plus fire. Soil is rock, plus
heat, or glacier crushing. Linen is flax
plus the bath that cleans, the comb that separates, and the flail that pounds,
and the shuttle that weaves. Human
character must have a plus attached to it.
The world does not forget great character. But great characters are not made of
luxuries, they are made by suffering….Someday, God is going to reveal the fact
to every Christian, that the very principles they now rebel against, have been
the instruments which He used in perfecting their characters and molding them
into perfection, polished stones for His great building yonder.” Cortland Myers
“Be
done with petty things. Be done with
small dreams. Give Me all that you have
and are; and I will share with you abundantly all that I have and all that I
am.” Frances
J. Roberts
HEART
SAVOR
- · Character is the manifestation of Christ in our jars of clay through the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit. Further, it is not the product of the impotent power of the will.
- · Character is forged through the heat of conflict.
- · I am to grow up in Christ. That means to move on from the petty and the infantile and become more and more conformed to His image. That is God’s goal for every believer. 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:28-29 (NIV)
