According to the greatest Evangelist of the last century, Dr. Billy Graham, the character is everything because according to him, when a man loses the money he has not lost anything. If he lost his health, he has lost something, but when he loses his character, he has actually lost everything. The all-important place of good character cannot be over-emphasised in any relationship. We live in the days of great challenges, getting someone that can be trusted has become a herculean task in our generation. The fact that someone claims to be born again may not even make any difference. There are many who go to Church today without a modicum of integrity in their lives and that makes it sound so unfortunate, especially when there is no much difference between the believers and the unbelievers around us. Having a good and godly character is beyond rhetoric, mere wishes or even prayers. We must deliberately work assiduously on ourselves until a better version of us emerges. The journey towards a good and godly character begins with working rigorously on our thoughts. We must be very careful about the kind of thoughts we accommodate in our hearts because the word of God tells us in Proverbs 23.7 that as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. Our thoughts determine our words and actions. Our thoughts have a way of shaping our lives. The truth is that our lives go in the direction of our thoughts.
Accommodating the wrong or negative thoughts will also lead to a wrong and negative lifestyle or attitudes. We must not allow negative thoughts to grow and develop in our lives. We must always do our best to get rid of them like plagues. Negative thoughts give birth to negative actions. When habits are unchecked, they become our character eventually. It is our character that eventually determines our destiny, be it in our relationship, career or whatever. It is a character that determines the outcome, the length and depth of any relationship. You cannot be selfish, disrespectful, disloyal, uncultured, flippant and greedy and expect your relationship to work.
The relationship does not work on its own, you must work assiduously to make it work. Nothing just happens, you have to make them happen. Absence of good and godly character will always lead to a catastrophic and disastrous end.
No one seems to love anyone without good character. They even try to endure for a while, but that may not last for too long. The more we choose to work on our character, the better our lives and relationships will be. It begins with our thoughts before the issue of actions. Proverbs 4.23 says we must guide our hearts with all diligence because out of it comes to the factors that control our lives. Our hearts can be likened to farmland. We must keep working at it by constantly removing the weeds or the unwanted plants, so they will not outgrow and overtake the original plants. We must also deliberately plant the good seeds or plants that we actually want to see because good plants don’t just happen or grow. Good character does not come by accident or coincidence. It is always a result of deliberate efforts. It is always a product of great decision, determination, diligence and discipline.
For questions, counselling, prayers & more information, please contact Rev. Solomon Julius Ojigiri, Everwinning Faith Ministries Int’l. 73/77, Everwinning Faith Avenue, White Sand, Isheri Osun, Festac Extension, Lagos. 08023997277 or www.everwinningfaithministries.org or www.solomonojigiri.org
