Do you want to be strong in character? Do you want your children to have strong character? How do we get it? Romans 5:3-5 (NLT) says: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”
It all starts with sufferings and afflictions. They help us to have patient endurance and this leads to strong character. Therefore, we should not despise our trials, but learn to endure them. Not with complaining and bitterness, but with rejoicing as Paul states. As we do this, we grow stronger in faith, stronger in our knowledge of God, and stronger in character.
Strong character is not being dominant and lording it over everyone else. Strong character comes through patiently trusting God in our trials. We don’t cave into self-pity but know endure with joy, knowing that God is bringing us through in His way and in His time.
We must teach our children this truth too. Because we love our children, we hope they won’t have to go through any trials. We protect them from suffering. And yet they also learn to become strong through enduring their little trials.
The word in the Greek is “dokime” and means “the act of proving oneself true, proof of genuineness, trustworthiness.” In other words, the way we go through our trials proves our character . Most translations use the word “proven.”
Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth “that I may know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.” He wrote about Timothy in Philippians 2:22 that they had observed the proof of Timothy’s lifestyle.
May God help us to have “proven” character and may He help us to raise children with “proven” character. Amen.
Blessings to you today,
Nancy Campbell