More than anything, God is looking to build your character. God wants your attributes to match his as you represent Him on earth. He is far more concerned about your character than your gifting. Good character will allow a greater dimension of your gift to flow. God wants to move you into a place of maturity and integrity so He can entrust you with the greater depth of Him as you move forward. Please make no mistake; it can be a process!
What Is Character?
Let’s look at character. Character is a moral or ethical code by which people live. But, of course, the question is, who decides what’s moral or ethical? Society has a set of standards of acceptable behavior regarding what is legal. Crossing those lines and getting caught has a variety of consequences ranging from fines to jail.
Religious groups have a set of standards that can vary significantly from one to the other. Likewise, families have their standards, which is usually where individuals get their ideals.
But what about God? How does He want you to live? Don’t even think a few blog posts can delve into the completeness of this topic! Instead, let’s take a look at one of the top quoted scriptures, Galatians 5:22 – The Fruit of the Spirit:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
If you can walk in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, you ROCK! But probably not. We all have areas of frustration and aggravation that God needs to work out of us to be able to walk in these things most of the time.
Character Over Giftings
Believe it or not, God is FAR more interested in developing your character than your gifts. You must bring your thoughts and ideals under Godly rule, not self-rule. If you don’t, you will not be able to mature in your gifts. God will not release the fullness of gifting into a person who doesn’t have the character to carry it.
For example, you may know that you are called to evangelism; you want everyone to meet Jesus! That’s a great gift, but without submitting to the process of character development, those you lead to Christ will think your ungodly behavior is acceptable to God. It would be best to live a righteous life, so you don’t lead others astray. It doesn’t mean you have to have every duck in a row, but you must be walking in some basics and consistently working on the rest of your issues.
I have seen several leaders in churches and ministries rise to a high level. But, unfortunately, they end up falsely believing they are okay, or God wouldn’t have put them in that position. Because they haven’t continued to move forward to develop their spiritual fruits, their behavior ends up making a ministry mess. If you lack patience and are prone to flying off the handle in your personal life, you will lack patience in ministry. No one wants to be around someone who can’t control their temper. Your ministry will flounder.
High Giftings - Great Falls
Maybe you’re wondering about those who build huge ministries, but they come crashing down through scandals (usually involving money or sex). There’s a reason for that. The gifts of God are given without repentance. That means that God puts talents into everyone; even if they never become Christians, they still have those gifts. Somewhere in life, we all had a favorite teacher. They knew their content and had a personality and presentation that made you want to attend class. God gave them the gift of teaching. Solid, biblical teachers are needed in the church as well. Great school teachers may never know God, but they will be known as great teachers by their students and peers. A Christian with a gift of teaching will use their skill in both arenas – the public school system and the education of Christians in a church or ministry setting.
Back to those mega ministries that have leaders fall. Often, the leader starts correctly but gets off track because they have not allowed God to work out their character issues. But as I mentioned above, they are gifted and build their church or ministry based on their abilities – not God’s call. Eventually, God will bring exposure, resulting in the leader’s removal and sometimes arrests. Often the church will suffer, and people will leave. Now you see why God wants character (and wholeness) developed before you move into higher positions. It’s not only for your good but also for the good of others.
Until next time under the palm, be blessed!
