Indeed it is easy to live life as it is. We were born gifted with a freedom to make our own choices. And our choices, more often than not, depends on our human nature where we prefer the "easy way out", rather than choosing what is right. This is a normal reaction of a man faced with any situation at hand. And this is just being human.
But, a person is distinguished by his character. And to have character takes numerous effort - it is hard.
Consider patience. Everyday, when we are tempted to complain and grumble, it takes real labor to choose to be patient. Patience is developed in a man as a result of his reaction to circumstances that deals with this virtue.
Character is neither an inborn talent nor inherited from our parents. A person has to undergo a series of testing and challenges to develop his character. When we are faced with a dilemma, our character is being molded.
We now live in a world where anything is acceptable and things we have done can always be justified. We justify bribery, by blaming the lawful but difficult process one has to undergo, we justify that diligence in the workplace is in accordance to whether how deserving who is in charge over us or whether we believe we are justly compensated, we justify ill-treatment to others because they treated us badly first, and the reasons go on and on. But then again, it takes character to be able to defy all of these. But nobody said that this is not complicated.
A character filled life is strict. Its path is narrow and more often than not leads to suffering. Everyday, we face countless encounters where we make choices. On the street, in the workplace, in our home, in our community... everywhere as a matter of fact.
To be truly a person with character doesn't depend on how intelligent or rich you are. It depends on what kind of a heart you have. Because it definitely is an attitude of the heart. Otherwise, we might as well call it hypocrisy. For, when our motives are not right whatever outward actions we do, it still is hypocrisy. Nevertheless, to perfectly mold our character we expect to have a burden and a struggle.
In a book entitled "Live Like a King" by Warren Wiersbe, he stated;
" At some point in life ech one of us must decide what is his highest joy, for the thing that delights us directs us. Generally speaking a child finds his delight in what he has. A young man delights in what he does and an adult in what he is.
The first lives for possessions, the second for the experiences and the third for character. We do not condemn the child or the youth for so living because neither have reached maturity, but we could certainly wonder at an adult who lived on those levels".
How true isn't it?
Indeed character may be synonimously linked to suffering, struggle and effort but its outcome far outweighs what is in this world.
The point in all of these is this, that our loving God is more concerned with our character rather than our comfort.
I am not saying that He will not provide for our needs. This is far from the truth . God is our provider and He knows even the desires of our heart.
However, God will go the extra mile to develop our character for us to be more like Him, like Jesus Christ. We were not left with this pursuit alone. God sent His son Jesus Christ as our example and He sent us a Helper which is the Holy Spirit to be our guide that will keep on encouraging and reminding us to keep on pursuing the real purpose in life - a character filled life.
