A new series...What is Character?

"Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it, piece to piece -- by thought, choice, courage, and determination." H. Jackson Brown

Beginning a new series and this one is a doozy!  We will learn the importance of having good character in our lives.

Can someone have a good character and then lose it?  I say a resounding yes!  Character is not something that you wake up one day and all of a sudden you have it.  It is not something that just accidentally happens or surprises you by showing up in your life. 

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Character is something you build...brick by brick everyday of your life.  The most important layer in this house of character is the foundation.  The foundation is none other than your relationship with Jesus.  If you are NOT building your life on Him and his principles, then no matter what you build your house with ... it will fall with the slightest wind of challenge that blows.  I am going to get gut honest with you here when I say that there was a period of time in my own life where I failed miserably in this character building.  I allowed "stuff" to come between me and the life that I knew was right.

Just having that strong foundation isn't enough either...let me explain.  You can have that assurance in your heart that you are a child of God, and you can hear the preacher preach about having character and what it means...but that will not give you good character.  What it takes is applying the fruits of the spirit every day...when you stop doing that...your character suffers.  Just because I went through a rough patch in my life, doesn't mean that I couldn't rebuild on my strong foundation...just the opposite and that is exactly what I continue to do everyday.  I rebuild everyday because it is an ongoing process.

As you have probably guessed...we will be studying the fruits of the spirit and how they apply to building good character.  As we expand on this subject...we will look at other characteristics that everyone should seek to have in their lives.  

Thank you for being a part of the study...feel free to make comments when something has touched you.

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