Character

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Romans 5:3-5

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’”

1 Samuel 16:7

Character: the internal code of conduct that we stand by. The collection of values, mindsets, and philosophies within the mind of man. 

People often talk about “building character”. They usually use the phrase as a way to justify giving you a very undesirable task. Why do they say “building character” instead of “getting character”, or “acquiring some character”? Because the character of the individual is built one decision at a time. 

Just like anything else in life, every loser wants instant results, and everyone who succeeds knows that success only comes after a long duration of work.

Character is built by small and repetitive action. And it is only noticed by others after a long period of construction.

An individual’s character is a set of defining traits that distinguish that individual from everyone else. To be set apart from all other men is the result of being different from them in hundreds of small ways; ways that you may think do not even matter. 

You drop trash on the ground, so you pick it up and throw it away. Most people just leave it there, after all, someone else is paid to get it for them. 

You take your shopping cart all the way to one of the designated areas instead of leaving it in the parking lot. Most people just leave the cart in everyone’s way. After all, there are people who get paid to collect those and return them to the store. 

You stay at the job you hate until the hours you agreed to work each day are fulfilled. You could dart out at 4:56 p.m., but you don’t, you have character.  

Or maybe you don’t do any of these things. Maybe you allow the small details of life to slide by because they are “unimportant”. Take a good look in the mirror, what you will see is a man who lacks character. It is nothing more than the cumulative result of hundreds of small choices like the ones listed above. They aren’t any big deal, or so you think. But when added together they mean more than when they are examined individually.

Any man who will slack off and make excuses in the little endeavors of character will do so in the great endeavors.

Do you really think you will suddenly “snap out of it” when everything is on the line, or when it actually matters? No, you will fail. Your lack of character will have compounded over those small choices, leaving you as just another loser, like everyone in the world and just like most men in the Church. Don’t be those weak, pusillanimous me, have some character. Be a man. Give the Church a good name.

Mantra

Every small action I take reflects my character. 

Application

Start actually taking those small actions. You will never build any character without those small actions that seemingly “don’t matter”. It is really that simple. Not always fun or convenient, but simple. 

Then you repeat those small actions every day. Eventually you begin to associate them with your identity as a man of character. If you put two days of action together, it becomes easier to get that third day as well. Now you have momentum on your side. Now you have very little reason to ever be that same person who lacked character ever again. 

With the momentum, you add more positive traits, more small actions, new actions that make you better as a man. Add up all these small decisions and you are a man of character. 

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.