At Home – by Rudy Gray

Chicago Sun Times columnist Sydney J. Harris wrote, “Since most of us would rather be admired for what we do, rather than for what we are, we are normally willing to sacrifice character for conduct and integrity for achievement.”

Rudy Gray

If that statement is anywhere near accurate, our culture is in a world of trouble! What is character? The word comes from a root word that means “to engrave, stamp, etch, or scratch.” It is the stamp or engraving impressed on our souls by nature, education, habits, and, I believe, the teachings in God’s word. Someone has noticed that “character is who you are when no one is watching.” Good character, we might say, is the noble qualities and virtues that make up the ethics, values and morals of a person. How do we know which qualities are really virtuous? The Bible is the book of virtues. It is the standard by which we can measure what is really valuable and good.

Would you prefer an incompetent surgeon who had good moral character or a very competent surgeon who was morally bankrupt? Kent Hughes has observed, “The closer a job gets to the moral core of a person, the more important moral character becomes. Perhaps it does not make much difference to the performance of a pilot, or a surgeon, or an athlete, or a gardener (though this is very debatable). But when it comes to teaching, moral character comes to the fore. This is even more so in personal counseling.”

We rightfully expect the people who teach us the Bible, for example, to be people of good moral character. We expect them to be the honorable vessels Paul wrote to Timothy about in 2 Timothy 2:20-26.

There are no perfect Christians. We all make mistakes and sin. However, the stamp of God’s life in our souls should be so real to us and such a witness to those who know us that there is no doubt we belong to God. Character may be hard to define, but we can know the standards and qualities by which we measure character – God’s word. Character is important. We need more people with godly character and fewer people who are simply “characters.”

Character is important because God’s truth is important. The best advertisement for Christianity is a person of godly character.