I was cleaning the sliding glass doors the other day and thinking about how the screen door doesn’t slide nicely. In fact, it’s so difficult to open and close that I have to yank on it, grit my teeth and grunt. Just thinking about it made me feel annoyed, especially after being at a friend’s house and effortlessly opening her smooth sliding screen door.
As I continued cleaning, I started thinking about how one side of the kitchen sink doesn’t drain well. That thought led to more and before I knew it, there were at least half a dozen things in the house that made me feel annoyed because they didn’t work properly.
Right at that moment, I began to wonder how many issues like that I have in my own heart or character.
Yes, God seems to speak to me when I’m cleaning. Maybe I should clean more often. Lol.
Most of the time, I don’t think about all of the things in my house that don’t work like they should. It’s usually when we have a guest over and they walk toward the sink that I quickly tell them to only use the one side that works.
I often then feel a little embarrassed, because my husband and I build and remodel homes for a living. It’s incredibly ironic, don’t you think? We, of all people, should take the time to make a “punch list” and invest in fixing the things that are broken.
However, just as I’ve grown accustomed to all the little annoyances around the house, I’ve also grown accustomed to some of the issues in my character.
Most of the time, I honestly don’t even think about them. They might come to the forefront of my mind when I witness a friend exhibit patience or some other equally valuable virtue with which I struggle.
It’s not about comparing my life to theirs, it’s more like a little twinge (i.e. reminder/nudge from the Holy Spirit) that I need to work on that area in my life.
Rick Warren helps put things into perspective when he says, “God’s ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development. He wants you to grow up spiritually and become like Christ.”
Even though I’m so comfortable in my flawed state, and my family and friends love me as I am, I know that’s not where God wants me to stay.
However, it’s just so easy to brush off or explain away our character flaws, isn’t it? Think of someone who says, “I’m stubborn. I’ve always been that way.” Instead of admitting that perhaps she needs to yield a little more, she writes off her stubbornness as a seemingly unchangeable aspect of her character.
In full disclosure, I may have said on more than one occasion, “I grew up as an only child…” which of course explains why I am the way I am.
So, instead of taking stock of my issues and intentionally investing in myself to be more like Jesus, I have just grown accustomed to how I am. Can you relate?
One example of a biblical woman with the kind of character I aspire to is Ruth. In the book of Ruth, chapter 3, we overhear a conversation between Boaz and Ruth on the threshing floor. Boaz says to her, “All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.”
Wow! What an accolade! Not just a few people noticed Ruth’s character. It was the whole town. Everyone could see the kind of character Ruth had when she traveled with Naomi, her mother-in-law, to a new land and began gleaning the fields to help provide for her.
That’s the kind of character I’d like to cultivate — the selfless, loving, hard-working and dedicated kind.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”
The idea of carving our names on people’s hearts during this life is such a beautiful illustration of an outward manifestation of the inner character we are developing.
We might be striving to do great things for God in our lives. I know I want to love Him and serve Him to the best of my ability. However, as Henry Blackaby notes, “Nothing is more pathetic than having a small character in a big assignment. Many of us don’t want to give attention to our character, we just want the big assignment from God.”
Ouch. I confess that I have wanted the “big assignment from God,” without always counting the cost.
I feel like the majority of my character flaws are most visible when I’m at home, which means that’s perhaps a good place for me to be working on them. I deeply desire to be a “wife of noble character” as we read in Proverbs 12:4. “A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.”
Who wants to be like “decay” in her husband’s bones? That’s awful. No, I’m striving toward a noble character and I think it begins with identifying the specific areas that need attention.
Titus chapter 2 tells us that the grace of God teaches us, 1) to say “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions and, 2) to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives.
I believe that by putting that into practice on a daily, maybe even hourly, basis, I would be investing in those flawed areas of my character.
As I wiped away some of the spots on the sliding glass door so it would be clean enough to see my reflection, I pray God would wipe away some of my character issues so I would be clean and see His reflection.
Let us go and be radiant this week!
Go Be Radiant 