What is character?
Character means a principle that is unchanging. The law of God does not change. Jesus does not change. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Character does not change overnight. It takes years to change one’s character. Habits can easily be changed. You need to double the number of years somebody has spent building his or her character. We easily change here and there because we don’t have character. If it is our character to love peace, we cannot go to war. If it is your character to love people, you cannot easily turn to hating them. We must build that unchanging principle in us for us to live as humans.
Character means one. The word holy in the Bible means one. The Lord our God is Holy which means He is one. Character is a whole. What is a whole is what is perfect. A person of character does not divide him/herself. He or she remains one. You cannot support war and peace. A person of character goes for one. He or she is one. He/she does not vote for His Excellency, Gen. Salva Kiir and again for Dr Riek Machar. I have heard people going to the president and say, “We will vote for you.” The same people go to Dr Riek Machar and say, “We will vote you, our president, Dr Machar.” Such people don’t have character. A person of character remains one. If he/she chooses to say, “YES”, he/she remains in that yes, or if he/she chooses to say, “NO”, he/she remains in that no. Are you one?
Character is a commitment to a set a values. You don’t steal today because you protect your character. It is character that protects our values. People without character kill, steal, rob, rape, insult, loot, etc, without shame! It is character that brings shame. Without character you celebrate doing any bad thing. When we have character, we commit to our values. The time we don’t completely want to portray bad image, it is the time it is realized that we have character.
Character is a self-imposed discipline. Everyone is discipline because he/she has character. Self-discipline is the centre of human living. Without character, we cannot have self-discipline. It is true that we don’t have self-discipline. That is true because we don’t all have character. Having character means having self-discipline.
Character is a constant effort to integrate your words, deeds and actions as one. The word integrate comes from the word integrity which means one. Someone will speak this and does the other, NO character in such a person. A person of character does not condemn stealing when he/she is stealing. He/she does not say corruption is bad when he/she is corrupting.
In churches, you will see preachers condemning sin but they sin like hell. The authority condemns crimes while many crimes are committed in the state house. Human beings are dangerous. They can talk nicely, but they don’t do nicely. Words will always remain useless without actions following them. When words, deeds and actions are put together, we say someone has character. Your big words without actions though you say them with tears will not help us. The noise you make in churches will not make us know God without your actions following them.
Character is a sacrifice for principles. You can sacrifice to let go of the wrong friends or people in your life to protect your principles. You can sacrifice some wrong relationships to protect your principles. People with character don’t care whether they will be killed or not. They sacrifice for their principles. They have principles to remain truthful. Those who have principles always name sin by its right name. They never fear rebuke even if AK47 is right in their neck. If we don’t stand against wrong things, it is because we lack character.
Why character?
Character protects you. You don’t need a police officer for a person of character. A person of true character will never be in a cell. A student with character in school will never see the disciplinary committee. His/her character will protect such a student from doing any wrong. The government does not need to deploy heavy forces around the city to put the citizens right, it is character that will put them right. You don’t need to cane your child to go right. It is character that will put your child right. Our character is our police.
Character attracts loyalty. A person of true character will always remain loyal. Do we need people who are loyal; they are the people of character. Loyalty is the action of character. I will always be loyal if I have character. We force loyalty on people because they live without character. With character being loyal is a must.
Character protects your words. A person of understanding speaks with care. He/she doesn’t gossip or backbite. Hurtful words come from a mouth without character. We mind our words when we have character. Character will make us speak with grace. We will always speak to transform lives. We will not speak ill of others if we have character.
How do you know a person of character?
A person of character does not need to talk. They don’t tell everyone who they are. Their words, deeds and actions speak for them. Our deep language does not show we are people of character. Wearing big suits won’t show we have character either. Driving a hammer car or V8 will never tell we have character. Eating expensively or living luxuriously doesn’t tell anything that we have character. Character speaks for people who have it!
There are three things that will test your character.
Power: Everyone lives normal without power. Make him/her a leader; you will learn he/she is a killer that day. Almost everyone is known whether a good person or a bad person when he/she is made a leader. Many leaders abuse power. Power is nature’s test of character. Do you want to know whether the person has character or not, make him/her a leader.
Money: Money is the main test of character. Give money to someone, you will perfectly discover who that person is. Before money, people could hide their true selves. But with money now, we know the character of people the very day we expose them to money. With money, we know there are big thieves in big coats. With money, we know thieves have offices. It is money that helps us know thieves are also driven with sirens well protected. Leave your money to your in-law, tomorrow; you will know the life of that in-law. Money is the perfect test of character.
Access to sex: Give someone an opportunity for sex; you will learn the character of such a person. Many young men and women fail these days just because of sex. Those years it was not easy to know that elders also rape when access to sex wasn’t easy. But today, I am convinced that elders are also rappers. They use their pocket to rape. A man who had nowhere to stay was helped by his friend to stay with him for years but later impregnated the wife of his friend. An employer sees a beautiful girl looking for a job, he demands sex and the job is given. There is no character in him. Some bosses sleep with their secretaries. Some church pastors sleep with beautiful women or girls in the church. Some teachers sleep with school girls. Give someone a sexual privilege; you will know the true character of such a person. Only a person of character will reject an opportunity for sex.
Note: Whoever falls today falls because of either, power, money or access to sex. Best kind to yourself.