We live in the end times when Jesus can come at any time. However, if he is late, there is a possibility that the church will face intensified persecution. I think the ability to resist persecution will revolve around what we might call “christian character“. Here we show you how you should act in difficult situations.
What should Christian character be like? Sardis example
Our character has something to do with who we really are when no one is looking. Our reputation, on the other hand, depends on how others view or perceive our behavior.
“Good” behavior without character becomes hypocrisy. This was revealed to Sardis, to the church: “And to the angel of the church that is in Sardis, he writes:
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- This is what the one who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says: I know your works, that you happen to be alive, and you are dead” ().
The Book of Revelation was written, to some extent, as an end time prophecy. It was also a warning given to the church. Christians are the church.
Since Jesus could come at any time, we must heed the warnings. God’s message to Sardis meant that they had a name, a good reputation, but they were dead.
They lived in hypocrisy. A good name is important; we want to have that. However, the basis of our reputation must be Christian character. This is what will help us resist any persecution we may face.
God cares about Christian character
God cares about who we really are. Sometimes we can be fooled by something that looks good on the outside, but God is never fooled.
Let’s look at a real life example:
A pastor’s family lived for a time in Woodlake, California. Fruits and vegetables grow in abundance in this region, and sometimes her neighbors or church people would drop a bag of these produce on her doorstep.
One night when they were coming home from church and the children were hungry. Someone had left a bag of fruit outside the door, so the pastor’s wife told the children they could eat some apples.
As soon as they started biting them, they expressed their disgust: “Bah! This is not right.” The kids couldn’t tell us exactly what was wrong with the fruit, but they knew better, they weren’t good. When they examined it more closely, they realized that they were not apples, but quinces! Look, looks can be deceiving, but God is not wrong.
The Christian character reflected in the old testament
In the Old Testament, we read that the prophet Samuel was commissioned by God to go to Jesse and make one of his sons king. When Samuel met Jesse’s eldest son, he saw that he was a handsome young man and felt that he was truly the Lord’s envoy.
- The Lord replied: “A man looks at what strikes the eyes, but the Lord looks at the heart“. God knows what is inside and instead chooses the youngest son.
We cannot produce the spiritual fruit of our lives, any more than the farmer can produce the fruit of his trees. God is the one who made the seed. He is the cause of the growth of the tree, the appearance of branches and leaves, the flowering of buds and the formation of fruits.
- The farmer cannot do all this; he is only cooperating with God. This is also true on a spiritual level.
The Bible specifically tells us that as Christians there are certain things we must do. It implies action. However, God is more concerned with who we are than with what we do.
Good deeds won’t save us. Even if we did all the good deeds we hear about, it wouldn’t be enough. We can conscientiously contribute to missionary funds.
We can give some coins to the local homeless. We can serve at the local soup kitchen. But if, at the same time, we degrade our wives and neglect our children, something is wrong. Character is something that comes from the heart.
A good character will bear good fruit, but building on good deeds when the heart is not there is like hanging ornaments on a tree. It may sound nice, but it’s not real. We will not be able to have the Lord in our life doing good works, but once the Lord is there, there will be good works, good fruits.
Christian character analysis
Let’s look at virtue, one of the traits we’re going to possess. In the second Epistle of Peter we are told: “Strive to unite your faith, virtue…”. How to add virtue? By doing something virtuous? Perhaps we can decide to dress modestly on purpose.
Perhaps we can still do this in a very righteous way, and then change and criticize, argue, or complain outright. If so, there is something wrong! Whatever we say, whatever our good deeds or what people think of us, something is wrong if we don’t have a heart that clings to doing it right.
We want to have this fruit that comes from the soul, because that is what makes us advance in dangerous moments. Outward appearance will do nothing for us when the test comes.
Some of us are getting older and facing pain, suffering and loneliness, circumstances that would bring them down if they didn’t have something real in their hearts.
Instead of complaining, they say:I still have the Lord!”. Sometimes sickness comes and destroys the body or the spirit, but it cannot take away what God has done in his heart. That is the Christian character. When everything is gone, what is in our hearts remains.
How Christian Character Works
When we have Christian character, it will show in our behavior. When a person is saved, there is evidence of salvation. If someone says, “I am saved,” but continues to lie, steal, and live immorally, that person is obviously not saved.
If you are saved, your change in behavior will show that something has changed in you, in your heart.
- We can read in the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians 5-17: “So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away; behold, all things are made new.” If there is no change in behavior, then the heart has not changed.
Sanctification is also a decided experience that has an impact on our lives. God’s Word teaches us that sanctification cleanses us of the sin nature with which we are born. There will be evidence in your life that you have been sanctified, the inner purity that will appear in your daily life.
When you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you will know it and others will know it too. Baptism will shock you. There will be new strength in your life. Your relationship with God will take place on another level, because the Comforter will dwell in you. Will be shown!
Christian Character Traits
Good character traits are not taught in a ten-step curriculum or in a textbook. It’s more than trying to do better. It goes through the work of God in the heart.
What will keep us going in this time of persecution and danger will be something God gave us, not something we try to develop on our own. The secret is found in the Second Epistle of Peter which says: “As his divine power has given us all that contributes to life and godliness“.
God said: “be holy“. He didn’t tell us to do something to look like saints. He said “HE“holy. You cannot become holy any more than you can save yourself, but when you have God’s holiness within you, your life and behavior will be holy and satisfy God.
Peter teaches us in this same chapter:
- “Strive to unite virtue to your faith, to virtue science, to science temperance, to temperance patience, to patience mercy, to mercy brotherly love, to brotherly love charity“(2 Peter 1:5-7).
He is not telling us to do something just, divine, or kind. It teaches us to be virtuous, divine and kind inside. This is the character. God will help us to be like this if we pray and ask.
Will your Christian character stand the test?
The Second Book of Peter is not the only place in the Bible where we see this teaching of being rather than doing. Yes, there are things that God tells us to do, but there are more things that he asks us to do.
- Philippians 2:15 It says, “Be blameless and clean.”
- Revelation 2:10 says: “Be faithful”.
- Revelation 3-2 He says, “Be vigilant.”
Is it your desire to be what God wants you to be? The Lord’s help is available to you. The bar is very high and God wants us to aim for it. We need that assurance during these end times. We need it if we want to be ready for the coming of Jesus. We need you to exercise truth and loyalty during this time of persecution and danger.
Does the Christian character always have to be in a good attitude?
What is the use of changing your character if God loves us as we are? It is that God also loves what we want to be: more loving, more humble, more helpful.
- “A Christian, in a way, has a double character, he has the one he inherits, the old man who is difficult to work with, marked by bad habits, and on top of that, the one he would like to have, the character of Christ, the new man.” .
“Does a Christian have to have good character?”
This is the theme that many lectures try to deliver, where important questions are raised. “We always fight with our character”, “Our character is something we put up with daily; it will be easier to be happy with a good character than with a bad character.”
The question is, therefore, at the same time very concrete but also eminently spiritual. “There are very clear and very specific spiritual questions.”
To say “I am like this and I will not change” is to assume somewhere that we are lucky if we are delicate and affectionate or that we are unlucky if we are angry and grumpy.
Change your character to have a good Christian character, difficult but not impossible
Angry, curmudgeonly, aggressive, touchy, grumpy, surly: we are all under threat. And very often living together makes us see how true it is! However, with a paradox, we often realize that it’s not always the worst characters that make people the most difficult to live with.
- It is precisely that character has something to do with the daily rhythm of life. And that concerns us all.
“We always realize that everyone, near or far, is wondering about their character and the character of others.” The old curmudgeon aunt – figure immortalized in the film “Auntie Danielle” (1990) – or the teenager in crisis…
Sometimes we dream that the other’s character is changing, while we experience that changing ours is… hard. It is even so difficult that for many it is impossible to change their character.
Tell “I am like this and I will not change“is to assume somewhere that we are lucky if we are delicate and loving or that we are unlucky if we are angry and moody.
Christian character, why is it spiritual?
Because precisely our character changes… It changes with time, with events, according to the people in front of us, according to…