Building Character

When we look to hire a person at Clarion, we place very little on technical skills. If a person is smart and willing, we can teach them just about anything. But character, that is something that we cannot teach a person and it is something that they bring with them. Normally it takes a life-changing experience for someone to be motivated enough to want to change. Even with that, it is less than 50/50 chance whether they can be successful in the long run. So, where and how does a person get their character traits to make them so ingrained in a person? We learn them from our parents. Deuteronomy 6:1-9: God told the Israelites how to develop a God-loving character in their children. It is not by accident or genetics how we become who we are, as some would argue. For better or for worse, every single word, every single action or non-action, every choice and every activity that we as parents do, is a piece of the puzzle added in building our children’s character. That is why in our lexicon we have terms like cycle of poverty and cycle of violence. It is a cycle because it is passed down from generation to generation through learning and observing from their parents.So what are you teaching your children? They are watching and learning everything that we say and do. We are programming our children without knowing most of the time. How do you treat your spouse? What do you say about your friends, your coworkers, the church, the government, political leaders? What do you watch on TV? What do you read and what music do you listen to? What do you find time to do and what do you neglect to do? What is prioritized in your home and what is unimportant? How often do you pray and what do you pray about? How often do you speak to others about the gospel or to host studies at your home? Our ability to influence our children’s character diminishes as they grow, but it never goes away. So as parents, there is always an opportunity to influence their character. I encourage all of us this morning to commit to building a strong God-loving character in our children by living a life that is pleasing to our Lord.

Samson Ling

Follow, Disciple, Share!