The
Building of a Man's Character
By Larnette Phillips
The building of a man's character can be likened to laying bricks
and mortar on a house, building its foundation or for that matter, building a
bridge...none of which is easy.
I don't believe character comes easily for any of us.
Character is something you build and it speaks volumes about who we are.
Someone once told me, "It's right to do
right..." and that short little statement offers with it a profound
insight of true wisdom.
A man cannot build his character when things are easy. It is
often the more difficult road that defines a man's character and brings it to
the forefront. Character, as I have often said, is what you do when no
one else is looking. It's also who you are behind closed doors - and who
you are when all of the world's eyes are upon you. And they should always
be one and the same - not just simply something you do when the red light on
the camera is blinking.
You will know a man's character many times by his associations.
Does he fly with eagles or scratch with chickens? Does he unite himself
with those who will lift him up or does he hang with those who tear him down?
I once heard a true story about a business owner in
Pennsylvania. He owned quite a large business, part of which was a
factory. His entire business burned to the ground. He brought all
of his employees together for a meeting (and his employees numbered in the
hundreds) and he told them they would not have to worry about their salaries or
their benefits because even though there was no idea when (or if) the insurance
would pay, he would personally pay their salaries and benefits out of his own
personal pocket. Now, there is a man of character. He did the right
thing in a really hard place.
Our blessings often come to us as a result of our ability to do
the right thing when it's hardest. A man of character can come through a
storm without so much as a scratch because he holds true to his
character. A man with character knows the One who walks beside him and
the One who will give him the strength and the grace to do what he must.
You will know the character of a man by how he holds up under pressure.
When the fire is at its hottest, a man of character will never duck.
He'll walk through the fire if he has to in order to honor what he must.
When you build a bridge, you do so one plank at a time and so it
is with character. You build it by being who you said you were, by
extending your hand in a firm grip and by looking people in the eye. A man
of character knows many things. He has learned that he is not too big to
say, "I'm sorry", "I was wrong", "I have hurt you and
I ask you to please forgive me." He knows he will never win a battle
as long as he is standing still. I've often heard it said that people
will get out of the way for a man on the run. But that's not to say
"running from his problems" because a man of character does not do
that. Rather, he greets the problem head on and says, "Let me put my foot
on you..." A man of character is greater than his past because he
knows we all make mistakes and a man of character knows the value of love,
forgiveness and mercy because at some point in his life, he had to ask for all
of those.
A man of character walks in truth, because truth is not often the
easiest pathway. Actually, it is more often than not, the most
difficult. There have been times in my life when I have had to speak the
truth because I've known God's word is always right and He says in His
word: "ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you
free..."
A man of character will lay down his life for his friends and
those he loves. He will go into the heat of battle and charge as if his
life depended on it - if that's what it takes to fight for those he
loves. A man of character sleeps well at night's end because during the
day he knows he did the best he could and he lived by his beliefs.
In the fiery furnace of life, a man's character is molded by the
heat and the pressure of that fire, but a man who builds his character well can
never leave behind a better legacy for those he loves than for them to say,
"my father was a man of character; my mother was a woman of character; my
husband or my wife - or my friend - was a person of a character." If
you want to know who someone really is, test their character and therein will
be your answer.