Reply To: Christian Character Discussion Board 2

[Nnachi]

Christian Character Group Discussion 2 Assignment
Christian Character is the Christ-like character; which is the character of Christ of the believer. This means believing and acting like Christ in all circumstances of life. That is, the life of Christ in the believer. Character is the ability to stay with the boss regardless of the trying moment. Consistency in marriage, business, relationship, and even ability to forgive as commanded by the Master.
Therefore, the development of Christian character is the wholesome responsibility of each individual believer. However, parental training, guidance and influences as the first ‘God’ are also paramount especially at the moulding stage; moreso it is a Biblical requirement (Eph 6: 4; Prov 22:6). This epitomizes the importance of character in the race of the kingdom and the centrality of the renewal of mind for that purpose. Hence, the importance of character development cannot be overemphasized and can be viewed variously and just summarized below:
1. Character by grace
In renewing your mind, you have a soul which lives in your body and a spirit. You have to develop your inclinations, dispositions etc to be like God. Every now and then, your thought life should be replica of Christ with His words as guiding tool and such will guarantee your spiritual standing, make you good ardent and then faithfully response and react to every situation as Christ would. Inability to renew one’s mind, you can neither develop nor maintain Christian character (Col 3:16; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Tim 2: 1-2; 2 Cor 3:18). Full life and godliness result from a renewed mind in Christ. This also represents the supply and provision of God, which grows as one develops and growth is a sign of life. We must ensure our character today is better than that of yesterday.
2. Diligence
By consistent living as enabled by God who always get things done with and for us. So, self-effort is not the fundamental. Once, we have and work with God, we build these life sustaining character traits (2 Pet 1:1-5). This is divine power to divine nature. The seed is already in us for development; we need to continue to add and have it spring up- as the new creation attributes. Imparting and empowering are the essence and being conscious of the grace is diligence. God has called us to develop our character as provided by God, not by our works.
3. Balance grace and diligence
Strive to develop a bit of grace and a bit of diligence in order to maintain and achieve a renewed character or active mind for Christ. In 1 Pet 2: 12-13 and Phil 2:12-13, we are admonished to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We are to do our part as God has done His own. We should work out our faith and should not give up-because God is at work and we are work-in- progress. This remains the process to keep our character in check and make us win souls to the kingdom.
4. Mind Transformation
For growth, sustainable godliness and scripturality, we need to keep our character on top-check; to avoid exhibiting inconsistence in behavior with our Father God. Jesus never demonstrated such in His life. This process or mind boosting/renewal or metamorphorsis of our mind is our guarantee that the character of God, the divine nature, resident in us will be successfully developed.
References to relevant portions of the Bible, most already highlighted will be of immense help.
5. Leadership
If you do not renew your mind, you can never have good character and therefore not be given leadership position (1 Tim 3;10; James 1:21-22). This is because renewal of mind is central to having good character which will qualify one for vineyard assignment.
Conclusion
Because of the significance of the mind renewal to the character development and the immense benefits to the kingdom, Christian character has a pivotal role to play. Therefore, it’s development attracts much attention.
In the discussion of reputation, charisma, agape love, among others the position of character is indispensable. It is opined that character is the bedrock of every successful believer and should be given a prime place; taking into cognizance, the relevance of the centrality of systematic mind renewal efforts and importance for the attainment of the feat. Believers with sterling character must work in wisdom, among other befitting qualities and even when unfairly attacked, will trust God’s vindication while still displaying good character. It should be noted that attacks should not change who you are for ultimately, a person’s character will be seen after the fire of persecuation.