Character
True character—the kind that really matters—starts with humility. It’s the quiet, honest recognition of my own brokenness, the moments when I realize just how much I need a Savior every single day to rescue me from the depths of my own heart. That daily dependence isn’t weakness; it’s the foundation. And from that place, Christ begins shaping something deeper in me—a character that reflects His. Little by little, He builds in me kindness that’s real, integrity that holds steady, and a love for others that goes beyond myself. It’s not perfection, but it’s a life being shaped into something beautiful, with Him at the center.
Isaiah 6:5
Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.
The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?”
— Jeremiah 17:9
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!
— Romans 3:23
Isaiah 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9, and Romans 3:23 each reveal the deep, universal brokenness of the human heart—and they powerfully reinforce the truth that true character begins with humility. In Isaiah 6:5, Isaiah is overwhelmed by the holiness of God and responds with a cry of unworthiness, showing the kind of honest self-awareness that marks the starting point of transformation. Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked—something we can't fix on our own. Romans 3:23 confirms that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, leveling the ground for every one of us. Together, these verses highlight our great need for a Savior and the futility of self-reliance. It’s only when we humbly acknowledge our sin and surrender to Christ that He begins reshaping our hearts—forming in us the kind of character that reflects His: steady, kind, and full of love.
While slander may blacken the reputation, it cannot stain the character. That is in God's keeping. So long as we do not consent to sin, there is no power, whether human or satanic, that can bring a stain upon the soul. A man whose heart is stayed upon God is just the same in the hour of his most afflicting trials and most discouraging surroundings as when he was in prosperity, when the light and favor of God seemed to be upon him. His words, his motives, his actions, may be misrepresented and falsified, but he does not mind it, because he has greater interests at stake.
— Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 32