CHARACTER
What is "Character?" According to Butler, Character is "that temper from whence you act in one way rather than another. It involves those principles or scruples from which a man acts when they become fixed and habitual with him. Consequently, there is a far greater variety in men’s characters than in the features of their faces."
But, I think I like better the definition of Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., who said, "Your Reputation is what men think you are; your Character is what God knows you to be."
Butler dissected Character and says he found it to comprise three parts: Benevolence--which is the habit of always doing good; Justice--which is the habit of always doing right; and Veracity--which is the habit of always telling the truth.
But where does it come from?
Character is not hereditary. Though men and women with character most always come from families where their parents before them had it, yet character is not acquired by birth.
Neither does character lodge with intelligence. The more learning a person acquires does not necessarily mean the more character is being acquired.
Neither is character acquired by salvation. A man, who is listless and lazy before conversion, will undoubtedly make a listless and lazy Christian. All the men God has mightily used have been men who were industrious prior to their call to service. David tended sheep, as did Moses. Elisha was plowing with twelve yolks of oxen. Paul was zealously persecuting the saints. And, Isaiah wrote, "I being in the way, the Lord led me."
Then from where does Character come?
Character is built little by little. Every act you do either helps to further your character or to deform what character you have. Individual acts give birth to habits that either make your character comelier or uglier. It is no accident you are the way you are; rather, you are what you have formed your life to be.
It was Alexander Whyte who said, "If you ponder good character, you are a moral philosopher; but if you practice good character, you are a moral man."
Every act you do tends to strengthen or to weaken your character. Every act of yielding makes it more vulnerable to further surrenders. Soon it becomes easy to yield and habit is formed. And soft at last, so your character is formed.
Good character is tested and strengthened in tragedies of life and by the temptations of a sinful and adulterous generation. All things in this world work together to purify, to refine, and to test your character. These are the predetermined plan of God to develop your character. But the trials God uses to shape your character would not meet my needs. Each man’s needs are different. This is why some people go through such trying affliction while others are spared them.
"The test of a man’s character is what it takes to stop him," said Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. Therefore good character is rare. Alexander Whyte points out; "There are many good minds, but few good hearts. There are more clever people than good people." Again, he points out, "Most men worship talent, strength, and beauty, but character is infinitely more valuable, and also infinitely rarer."
Character rests upon three pillars: FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. Your character will never be stronger than your Faith, nor will it ever be stronger than your Hope, nor your Love.
"Your REPUTATION is what men think you are; your CHARACTER IS WHAT GOD KNOWS YOU TO BE." And "The TEST of a man’s CHARACTER is what it takes to stop him."--Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.
OCTOBER
6, 1536--William Tyndale, chained to a wooden stake, is first strangled, then burned. His notoriety lies in his having translated the Word of God into the English language.
9, 1747--David Brainerd will die today in the home of Jonathan Edwards, his father-in law. He is 29 years of age. The Diary he leaves behind will inspire William Carey to go to the mission field as well as other notable men. Brainerd has spent his life teaching the Indians of New England, the Word of God. The last words he is heard to utter are, "I am almost in eternity. I long to be there...oh, to be in Heaven to praise and rejoice with God and with His angels!"
12, 1524--Jacques Lefevre has finished translating into French the Word of God.
12, 1531--Ulrich Zwingli receives a fatal wound while acting as a chaplain to his Swiss countrymen. He has been speared on the battlefield. We can hear him utter, "What matters it? They may kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul. Zwingli was God’s tool to bring reformation to the land of Switzerland as did Luther to Germany.
14, 1771--John Gill dies having written ten million words which involved Gospel treatises and a set of commentaries which unlike any others comment on each of the 775,000 verses in the Bible. The English songwriter, Augustus Toplady wrote of him, "It would perhaps try the constitution of half the literati in England only to read with care and attention the whole of what Gill wrote!"
15, 1845--After 32 years on the mission field, Adoniram Judson is again on American soil.
15, 1906--The renowned Methodist Evangelist Sam Jones dies aboard a train bound for Little Rock, Arkansas. He has just finished meetings in Oklahoma City. His wife and daughter are with him. He will be buried in Cartersville, Georgia. He has had a stroke.
16, 1555--At Oxford, England, Hugh Latimer and Bishop Ridley are led to a wooden stake to be burned to death. They embrace each other, kneel in prayer, and kiss the stake. The sight of the stake makes Ridley tremble. "Be of good cheer, brother Ridley, and play the man. We shall light such a candle in England today as will never go out!" Witnesses declared Latimer seemingly embraced the flames.
16, 1847--Sam Jones, the Methodist evangelist is born in Oak Bowery, Alabama. He will be known for his pugilistic fight against the traffic in liquor.