141 Sermon Illustrations on Character

“It’s easy to have principles when you’re rich. The important thing is to have principles when you’re poor.” — Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s

Questions to Ponder

• What are my principles?

• Would they change if my economic position changed drastically?

• Do I act on my principles or just espouse them?

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #7087]

Deadlines are necessary, and pressure is a good thing. In spite of all the appropriate warnings we hear about stress, the ideal state is not an environment totally without it. At first blush, you may disagree with me. But let me tell you a story.

In an old black-and-white episode of Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone,” a mobster dies and finds himself in a gorgeous penthouse in a high-rise casino. Things were perfect! Every time he placed a bet, he won. Every joke he told elicited belly laughs. Every beautiful woman he met gushed affection for him. He had everything he had ever dreamed of having. And it was effortless.

Eventually, however, he began to feel restless and bored. Always winning and always getting just what he wanted had somehow numbed his ability to find joy in anything. In his undemanding environment, he began to crave a challenge.

So the stress-free, always-victorious tough guy went to the gray-haired fellow who appeared to be the curator of the place. He asked if maybe God hadn’t made a mistake by sending him to heaven. The cordial host said that God hadn’t sent him to heaven. In that exchange, the mobster realized he had been consigned to hell.

Although we sometimes fault God for creating Planet Earth as a place that tests our mettle, challenge is wholesome. Just as lifting weights builds muscle, facing the routine trials and occasional catastrophes of life builds character. Against the common view that the Garden of Eden was a paradise environment because there was no adversity there, I beg to differ. Adam and Eve were assigned the task of working to tend the garden. Their sin made the task far more difficult -- and downright unpleasant under some conditions. But duty, work, and challenge are necessary elements of a life that would experience the joy of accomplishment and triumph.

We tend to grumble when we think we’re getting a raw deal or that life is being unfair. But it is not unfair for any one of us to have to pull her load, earn his keep, or otherwise justify the space he or she occupies.

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors” (James 1:2-3, The Message).

Your greatest fear today is actually your greatest opportunity. With God as your partner, you can face the challenge and grow from it. The ultimate vexation is neither struggle nor failure but a life so monotonous that it offers no victories over hardship.

In his sermon "Tide Riding," the late Bruce Thielemann accomplished both of these effects in one short passage: "My first pastorate was in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, which was famous at that time for having the world's largest steel-tube rolling mills .... Many was the time I stood in one of those great machines ... with the man operating the machine. I'd see a great serpent of molten metal come slithering down into the machine, and it would be chopped off. Then the machine would grab it by its end and begin to spin. By centrifugal force, that bar of metal would open from the inside out .... I asked the men directing those machines, `What's the most important ingredient in the process?'

"The answer was always the same: `It's the temperature of the metal. If it is too hot, it will fly apart; if it is too cold, it will not open as it ought. Unless you catch the molten moment, you cannot make the perfect tube.'

"Unless we catch those molten moments when character can develop, we miss our opportunities just as the disciples did."

Thielemann heightens our interest in the steel mill by introducing the snake metaphor, and then he uses "molten moments" as a tangible way to talk about the abstract concept of opportunity.

Quote From A Journalist

A journalist student recently asked veteran Washington journalist Jack Anderson, what ideas he had about how to turn the moral fabric of our society around. His response was: "Our political leaders pay little notice to letters to their office. But what they do notice is the polls. If you want to improve the moral fabric of our leadership, we must be moral ourselves." He then added: "If to seek a rule to be moral, take this pledge: 'If it isn't right, I won't do it; if it isn't true, I won't say it; if it isn't mine, I won't take it.' "

--The Chapman Challenger, Ripley, MS

While teaching at a major West Coast university more than a decade and a half ago, I had a similar experience. On examination days, I would lock the doors when all the students had their exams in hand. I warned the class a week in advance that if they were going to be 15 minutes late for any reason, they should take the morning off, enjoying the sun - and their zero. One particular exam day, a male student scrunched in just as the door was closing. He begged so politely that I made him a deal: He could take the exam, but he would start from a 90, instead of the usual 100. He agreed.

On the day I handed the graded exams back, he and his friend were about 5 feet behind me while I was discussing another student's grade with her. With that peripheral hearing we all have, I heard him discussing his grade and what had happened on exam day.

His friend said, 'Bummer.You mean she took off 10 points 'cause you were late? That's not fair."

My late" student whispered back, No, not at all. I was lucky she even let me take the test. It was my fault."

I whipped around and grabbed his paper while they both jumped in suq)rise. I added the 10 points back in, which raised him from a 78 to an 88 (B-minus to A-minus). I always reward ... character," I explained. I'm glad you're in my class. It remains one of my fondest memories of teaching.

--Dr. Laura Schlessinger

SEARCHING FOR AN HONEST MAN

Donald Dunn, in the January 1992 "Reader's Digest," told the following

story:

A man entered my father's diesel-repair shop, said he was a driver

from a trucking fleet and suggested, "How about adding a few extra parts to

the bill? We'll let the company pay for it, and you and I can split the

difference?"

Dad refused, but the customer was insistent. "I come through here a

lot," the man continued. "We could make quite a bit of money." Dad said that

wasn't how he operated.

"Everyone does it!" the man yelled. "Are you some kind of fool?"

Burning mad, Dad asked him to leave and take his business elsewhere.

Suddenly the man smiled and extended his hand for a handshake. "I

own a trucking company," he said. "I've been looking for a mechanic I can

trust, and I'm not taking my business anywhere else!"

NOTE: Life sometimes offers us tests such as this. Whether it's honesty, or

faithfulness, or a heart of devotion to Christ -- will we pass the test?

(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications,

SwanLake@webcombo.net, September 27, 1999)

"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him

who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is

the victory over self." -- Aristotle

"Let us not say, Every man is the architect of his own fortune;

but let us say, Every man is the architect of his own character."

- George Dana Boardman

- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 54.

"Character is not made in a crisis -- it is only exhibited."

- Robert Freeman

- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 54.

"Every man has three characters -- that which he exhibits, that

which he has, and that which he thinks he has."

- Alphonse Karr

- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 54.

The old legend of St. Veronica tells us that after the crucifixion, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, had gone away from the tumult and strife of Calvary her friends gathered in a little room to give her comfort. While they were visiting together there appeared one who had followed him up the hillside to the cross, and who tradition says gave him the napkin to wipe away the blood from his face when he had fallen fainting beneath the weight of his cross. She thought that it would be a comfort to the mother of the dying one upon the cross to have anything that he had used in the time of his agony, and so the famous painting represents her as holding this napkin; when, behold, as they looked upon the piece of cloth is seen the likeness of the Saviour.

This is tradition, of course but it is an illustration of the fact that those of us whose lives may be counted by the world common and even ordinary, may have pressed upon us the likeness of Christ, and those who look upon us may take knowledge of us not only that we have been with Jesus, but may be persuaded of the fact that we have come even here and now to bear about his likeness.

________

J. Wilbur Chapan, “Present Day Parables.”

Spare a thought for those who are bestowed with troublesome names. That can happen anywhere, of course. But, in Zambia, Chris Haslam came across some very surprising choices.

________

Under a darkening sky on a dusty, potholed track in eastern Zambia, a small boy is struggling to push a large, Chinese bicycle. Its handlebars, crossbar and panniers are stacked impossibly high with yellow jerry cans, firewood and a sack of rice. Because the boy needs both hands to keep the bike upright, he can’t sweep the flies from his eyes. But this seven-year-old is laboring under a much heavier, but less visible burden.

His name is Mulangani. It’s a Nguni word meaning “punish me”. Or “he who must be punished”, if you want to get formal. Who, I asked my driver Mavuto, would give their child such a horrible name?

“Maybe his grandfather, maybe the chief,” he shrugged, explaining that across Zambia and neighboring Zimbabwe, it is common for parents, especially in rural areas, to invite community elders to choose the name of a newborn.

“Sometimes the chief wants to punish the family,” says Mavuto. “Or he may think this new child is too much for the family to bear.”

Watching the boy’s Sisyphean progress towards his distant home, that name suddenly seems disturbingly apt, but he’s not the only one cursed with a dismal name. In later days, I meet Chilumba - “my brother’s grave”, Balaudye - “I will be eaten”, Soca - “bad luck” and Chakufwa - “it is dead”.

I also meet Daliso, whose name means “blessings” and Chikondi, which means “love”. Maybe it’s me, but they do seem happier.

“In African culture, there is a trend of naming children according to the circumstances surrounding their birth,” says Clare Mulkenga-Chilambo, a care worker at SOS Children’s Villages in Zambia. “It’s good for those born at bright and merry moments but unfortunate for the others.”

And there are a lot of others. HIV and Aids have ravaged Zambia, and although infection rates are now falling, 55,000 adults and 5,000 kids became infected in 2015. Countrywide, an estimated 380,000 children have been orphaned by Aids and 85,000 are living with HIV.

Ask Massiye, or “orphan”, or Chisonis - “sadness”, or the sad-eyed Chimwamsozi, whose name means “drinker of tears”. Or nine-year-old Komasi, whose name means “kill him”, and his little brother Komaniso, aka “kill him also”.

“Most Zambians have several names,” says Kangachepe Banda. His name means “well off” or “richness”, and as a safari guide he’s doing OK.

“You’re talking about the first one. It’s called the zina la bamkombo- or the name of the umbilical cord. After a birth, the mother and child hide away until the cord drops off. On that day, the baby is presented to family and neighbors, and the person honored with choosing the name makes his decision.”

Use of this name is supposed to be limited. It’s supposed to be kept between the namer and the named - a dark reminder to the growing child that one person saw into his or her soul at birth.

The church, says Clare Mulenga-Chilambo, offers deliverance. “Most people turn to Christianity and on baptism, they are given Christian names,” she says. “This gives them the opportunity to give up their traditional name, which is often seen as the cause of whatever misfortune they could have been facing in their lives”.

But there are some here who see opting for the homogenized anonymity of John, James or Mary as a dereliction of tradition. Others feel that the names must be kept not just out of respect to elders but also as a guarantee of ancestral protection.

If the name maketh the man, then surely Zambia’s notoriously grim prisons are full of unfortunates who’ve been saddled with names like Chidano, Mapenzi and Chananga - that’s “hatred”, “trouble” and “wrongdoer” respectively?

“It’s possible,” concurs Muvato. Growing up, he knew a kid called Chiheni, which translates as bad boy, or thug.

“He ran away from home when he was 12,” he says. “He is in prison in South Africa for the attempted murder of a security guard.”

Meanwhile, little Mulangani - he who must be punished - has scrounged a lift in the back of our pick-up to his home. It’s a tin-roofed hut with a neat vegetable patch patrolled by bickering chickens and a dog called Imbwa. Which means “dog”.

Sometime soon, says Mulangani, I’m going to be baptized. My new name will be Emanuel. It means God is with me.

He smiles. He likes Emanuel.

As we drive away, there’s a storm brewing in the west. The potholes are getting deeper and the clutch is playing up. As the first fat raindrops splatter the dusty windscreen, it suddenly strikes me that I haven’t asked Mavuto what his name means.

He grimaces as he struggles to find third gear.

“It means problems,” he says.

*

[Illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #10808]

Among the reminiscences of a political leader, published by a

Boston journal, is one of a national convention of the party to which

he belonged. He says that the first day's proceedings developed the

fact that the balance of power in the nomination of a candidate for

the Presidency would rest with the delegation from a certain State.

The delegates met in caucus at night with closed doors. In the

discussion that ensued, the name of a prominent man was urged and was

received with favor. Only one of the delegates, a judge of some

eminence in the State, knew him personally, and he not intimately. He

was asked for his opinion. In reply, he said that he was at college

with the prospective candidate, and he would relate one incident of

college life. He did so, and it showed that the young man was, in

those days, destitute of moral principle. The delegates were satisfied

that, although brilliant, he was a man they could not trust and they

unanimously resolved to cast the votes of the State for his rival. The

next day the vote was given as decided, and the man to whom it was

given was nominated and elected.

Little did the young college man think when he committed that

escapade, that a score of years later it would be the sole cause of

his missing one of the greatest prizes of earth--that of being the

President of the United States. But sin is always loss, and unless it

is blotted out by the blood of Christ, it will cause the sinner to

lose the greatest prize attainable to a human being in the world

beyond the grave--eternal life. --Rev. W. W. Landrum

In a speech delivered in New Haven, Conn., on March 6, 1860 -- just two months before the Republican Convention that nominated him -- Abraham Lincoln said this:

“What we want, and all we want, is to have with us the men who think slavery wrong. But those who say the hate slavery, and are opposed to it, but yet act with the Democratic party -- where are they? Let us apply a few tests. You say that you think slavery is wrong, but you denounce all attempts to restrain it. Is there anything else that you think wrong, that you are not willing to deal with as a wrong? Why are you so careful, so tender of this one wrong and no other? You will not let us do a single thing as if it was wrong; there is no place where you will allow [slavery] even to be called wrong! We must not call it wrong in the Free States, because it is not there, and we must not call it wrong in the Slave States because it is there; we must not call it wrong in politics because that is bringing morality into politics, and we must not call it wrong in the pulpit because that is bringing politics into religion; we must not bring it into the Tract Society or the other societies because those are such unsuitable places, and there is no single place, according to you, where this wrong thing can properly be called wrong!

see Deuteronomy 17:14-20

Source: Focus on the Family Newsletter, September 1996.

see “Fresh Sermon Illustrations” (http://www.sedona.net/~budman/illustr.html)

John Taylor Gatto, former New York City and New York State Teacher of the Year has compiled the following list that he calls “The 20 Qualities of an Educated Person.” In compiling this list, Gatto reviewed the answers to questionnaires given to a number of Corporate Personnel Managers and College Admission Officers. According to these two groups, an educated person will demonstrate:

1. A broadly knowledgeable mind

2. Self confidence

3. A life purpose

4. A touch of class

5. Good leadership skills

6. The ability to work with a team

7. Patience

8. Good public speaking skills

9. Good writing skills

10. Resourcefulness

11. A desire for responsibility

12. Honesty

13. A public spirit

14. The ability to work well alone

15. An eye for details

16. The ability to focus at will

17. Perseverance

18. The ability to handle pressure

19. Curiosity

20. An attractive personal style

(Do you notice how these have little to do with academic knowledge and skills, but a LOT to do with CHARACTER?)

________

The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the-funnies

*

[Original illustration at this number was added to HolwickID #21059]

In our pocket of society, where pampered affluence is rampant, we are often at a loss to know what kind of gifts to buy our friends and loved ones on special occasions. For some people (especially those who "have everything") the standard gift won't cut it. Nothing in the shopping mall catches our fancy.

I have a suggestion. It may not seem that expensive or sound very novel, but believe me, it works every time. It's one of those gifts that has great value but no price tag. It can't be lost, nor will it ever be forgotten. No problem with size either. It fits all shapes, any age, and every personality. This ideal gift is YOURSELF. In your quest for character, don't forget the value of unselfishness.

________

Charles R. Swindoll, "Man to Man" (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), p. 59

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you, will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered. Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble."

Integrity is "a better long-term investment than the best Certificate of Deposit known to man!"

-- Jon Johnston, Courage: You Can Be Strong in the Face of Fear, p. 91.

"The mark of good character should not be left only on tombstones."

- Unknown

If you don't like to wash your hands, don't ever become a doctor or a nurse. I mean, you have to wash your hands a lot! Scrubbing up is routine procedure for people in the medical profession. I don't think any of us wants to be opened up by some doc who hasn't washed his hands all day! Actually, a loved one of ours had major heart surgery a few years ago - which she made it through. What she didn't make it through was the staph infection she picked up in the hospital. It's avoiding that kind of thing that is at the heart of a hospital's insistence that healers and caregivers get really clean before they touch you. If they carry infection, they can do a lot of damage.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Cleanup Imperative.”

It isn't just doctors and nurses that have to be clean for what they do. It's a requirement God makes of anyone He's going to use to do His work on earth - from teaching a class to working in ministry, to raising a family in His ways.

Listen to His uncompromising words, for example, in Isaiah 52:11, our word for today from the Word of God. “Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord.” When you're doing anything for God, you're touching the holy, whether you realize it or not. And you'd better not be handling the holy with dirty hands, with a dirty mind, a dirty motive, or a dirty attitude. God says, “Get rid of that infectious junk! You're carrying the 'vessels' of Almighty God!”

No one serving the holy, holy, holy God should dare to do it without “scrubbing up” on a regular basis - knowing that we get polluted some each day. When you're dealing with holy things day after day, frankly it's easy - but deadly - to become casual about it. And about sin that you're allowing to creep into your life. But the judgment is greater for those who know what you know. Who bring infection into the spiritual “hospital” where He is trying to heal lives.

In 2 Timothy 2:20-21, Paul makes very clear what God is looking for when He decides who He's going to use for great things. He describes a house with gold and silver vessels - which are used for special things - and with wood and clay vessels, which are used for dirty and gross things. He concludes, “If a man cleanses himself ... he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master, and prepared to do any good work.”

God isn't impressed with your abilities, with your great resumé, with your connections, your credentials, your cash, your charisma. All He cares about is your character! He's looking for clean! Getting rid of the dirt, staying clean - that's how you qualify to be an instrument in the hands of Almighty God.

Maybe you've let your hands, your mind, your spirit get dirty. You've gotten careless about the sin that killed your Savior. Don't defile the work of a holy, holy, holy God. Bow before Him. Let Him forgive you, cleanse you, and purify you again. He has great work for you to do, many lives for you to touch with His healing love. But only if you're clean.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #15410]

"Character is what you are in the dark."

-- Dwight L. Moody, evangelist

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."

-- Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President

"When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost."

-- Billy Graham

"Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wing, and only character endures."

-- Horace Greeley

"Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character..."

-- Stephen Covey

"Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there."

-- John Wooden

"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him."

-- James D. Miles (later used by Malcolm Forbes)

"Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

-- John Wooden

"Character is a quality that embodies many important traits, such as integrity, courage, perseverance, confidence and wisdom. Unlike your fingerprints that you are born with and can't change, character is something that you create within yourself and must take responsibility for changing"

-- Jim Rohn

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

-- Helen Keller

"The virtue of man ought to be measured, not by his extraordinary exertions, but by his everyday conduct."

-- Blaise Pascal

"When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them."

-- Plato

"People rarely disclose their character so clearly as when they describe someone else's."

-- (unknown)

"Character is that force that enables an individual to carry out a resolution once the mood in which that resolution was born has died."

-- (unknown)

"A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents."

-- G. C. Lichtenberg

"Character is a victory, not a gift."

-- (unknown)

"There is no such thing as a "self-made" man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success."

-- George Matthew Adams

"Every man has three characters--that which he exhibits, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has."

-- Alphonse Karr

"You must look into people, as well as at them."

-- Lord Chesterfield

"Instead of saying that man is the creature of circumstance, it would be nearer the mark to say that man is the architect of circumstance. It is character which builds an existence out of circumstance. From the same materials one man builds palaces, another hovels; one warehouses, another villas; bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks until the architect can make them something else."

-- Thomas Carlyle

"Let us not say, Every man is the architect of his own fortune; but let us say, Every man is the architect of his own character."

-- George Dana Boardman

"Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended."

-- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed."

-- Benjamin Disraeli

"The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: Initiative, Imagination, Individuality and Independence."

-- Edward Rickenbacker

"Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character."

-- Henry Clay

"A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another's."

-- Jean Paul Richter

"Character is not made in a crisis -- it is only exhibited."

-- Robert Freeman

"Man's character is his fate."

-- Heraclitus

“Small courtesies, small considerations, habitually practiced in our daily lives, give a greater charm to the character than any display of great talents or accomplishments.”

-- M. A. Kelty, SermonCentral newsletter, 1/27/03

“The supreme test of goodness is not in the greater but in the smaller incidents of our character and practice; not what we are when standing in the searchlight of public scrutiny, but when we reach the firelight flicker of our homes; not what we are when some clarion-call rings through the air, summoning us to fight for life and liberty, but our attitude when we are called to sentry-duty in the gray morning, when the watch-fire is burning low. It is impossible to be our best at the supreme moment if character is corroded and eaten into by daily inconsistency, unfaithfulness, and besetting sin.”

-- F. B. Meyer in “Our Daily Walk”, quoted in SermonCentral newsletter

"If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself."

-- Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), 28th U.S. President, B&P 3/14/03

"No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Wit & Wisdom 5/7/04

"Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

"What you are thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold."

-- Euripides

"Education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character -- that is the goal of true education."

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Character is like the foundation of a house. Most of it is below the surface."

-- unknown

These were collected by Pastor Peter Laitres:

=============================================

“I stand before my neighbors on my character; but in heaven I have no standing myself at all. I stand there in the character of my Savior.”

-- Paul Daniel Rader (1879–1938)

“Sow a thought and you reap an act;

Sow an act and you reap a habit;

Sow a habit and you reap a character;

Sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

-– Samuel Smiles (1812–1904)

“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.”

-- former Oklahoma Representative J. C. Watts

“If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.”

-- D. L. Moody (1837 - 1899)

“It is a very serious duty, perhaps of all duties the most serious, to look into one’s own character and conduct, and accurately read one’s own heart. It is virtually looking into eternity, and all its vast and solemn realities, which must appear delightful or awful, according as the heart appears to be conformed or not conform to God.”

-- Emmons

“Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.”

-– Sam Ewing

“It’s not the hours you put in your work that counts, it’s the work you put in the hours.”

-– Sam Ewing

“Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath.”

-- Solon (638 BC - 559 BC)

““Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.”

-- Thomas Paine (1737-1809) [also attributed to Horace Mann (1796 - 1859) -- see note 1 below]

“Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.”

-- Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

“A man’s reputation is what other people think of him; his character is what he really is.”

-– Jack Miner

“Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted.”

-- Author Unknown

“God alters our disposition, but he does not make our character. When God alters my disposition, the first thing the new disposition will do is to stir up my brain to think along God’s line. As I begin to think, begin to work out what God has worked in, it will become character. Character is consolidated thought. God makes me pure in heart; I must make myself pure in conduct.”

-- Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)

“God does not supply us with character; he gives us the life of his Son, and we can either ignore him and refuse to obey him, or we can so obey him, so bring every thought and imagination into captivity, that the life of Jesus is manifested in our mortal flesh. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the Son of God in our mortal flesh. Our responsibility is to keep ourselves fit to manifest him.”

-- Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)

“God has a program of character development for each one of us. He wants others to look at our lives and say, ‘He walks with God, for he lives like Christ.’”

-- Erwin W. Lutzer (1941– )

“God is more concerned about our character than our comfort. His goal is not to pamper us physically but to perfect us spiritually.”

-- Paul W. Powell

“I’ve seen the difference character makes in individual football players. Give me a choice between an outstanding athlete with poor character and a lesser athlete of good character; and I’ll choose the latter every time. The athlete with good character will often perform to his fullest potential and be a successful football player; while the outstanding athlete with poor character will usually fail to play up to his potential and often won’t even achieve average performance.”

-- Tom Landry (1924–2000)

“The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.”

-- Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)

“You can’t make a good cloak out of bad cloth.”

-- Spanish Proverb

“You cannot carve rotten wood.”

-- Chinese Proverb

________

1. Paine's quote has been variously attributed. "Reputation is what men and women think of us, character is what God and the angels know of us" is attributed to Thomas Paine in A Dictionary of Terms, Phrases, and Quotations (1895) edited by Henry Percy Smith, and Helen Kendrick Johnson.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Horace_Mann notes that it is attributed to Horace Mann, in The Wordsworth Dictionary of Quotations (1998) edited by Connie Robertson, but the earliest published variant of such a declaration seem to be in an anecdote about an anonymous Boston woman in 1889: "I have the reputation of being of good moral character. But you know reputation is what people think of us, while character is what God and the angels know of us, and that I don’t want to tell." (Anonymous Boston woman, as quoted in Current Opinion [1889]).

Price Collier, in Sermons (1892) put it this way: "There is a very great difference — is there not? — between the temporal and the eternal judgments, a very great difference between a man’s reputation and a man’s character, for reputation is what men think and say of us, while character is what God and the angels know of us."

[see notes at bottom]

The Last Supper was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, a noted Italian artist; and the time engaged for its completion was seven years. The figures representing the twelve Apostles and Christ himself were painted from living persons. The life-model for the painting of the figure of Jesus was chosen first.

When it was decided that Da Vinci would paint this great picture, hundreds and hundreds of young men were carefully viewed in an endeavor to find a face and personality exhibiting innocence and beauty, free from the scars and signs of dissipation caused by sin.

Finally, after weeks of laborious searching, a young man nineteen years of age was selected as a model for the portrayal of Christ. For six months, DaVinci worked on the production of this leading character of his famous painting. During the next six years, Da Vinci continued his labors on this sublime work of art. One by one fitting persons were chosen to represent each of the eleven Apostles; space being left for the painting of the figure representing Judas Iscariot as the final task of this masterpiece. This was the Apostle, you remember, who betrayed his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, worth in our present day, currency of $16.96.

For weeks, Da Vinci searched for a man with a hard callous face, with a countenance marked by scars of avarice, deceit, hypocrisy, and crime; a face that would delineate a character who would betray his best friend.

After many discouraging experiences in searching for the type of person required to represent Judas, word came to Da Vinci that a man whose appearance fully met his requirements had been found in a dungeon in Rome, sentenced to die for a life of crime and murder. Da Vinci made the trip to Rome at once, and this man was brought out from his imprisonment in the dungeon and led out into the light of the sun. Here Da Vinci saw before him a dark, swarthy man; his long, shaggy and unkempt hair sprawled over his face, which betrayed a character of viciousness and complete ruin. At last, the famous painter had found the person he wanted to represent the character of Judas in his painting. By special permission from the king, this man was carried to Milan where the picture was being painted; and for months he sat before DaVinci at appointed hours each day as the gifted artist diligently continued his task of transmitting to his painting this base character in the picture representing the traitor and betrayer of our savior. As he finished his last stroke, he turned to the guards and said, "I have finished. You may take the prisoner away." As the guards were leading their prisoner away, he suddenly broke loose from their control and rushed up to Da Vinci, crying as he did so, "O, DaVinci, look at me! Do you not know who I am?"

Da Vinci, with the trained eyes of a great character student, carefully scrutinized the man upon whose face he had constantly gazed for six months and replied, "No, I have never seen you in my life until you were brought before me out of the dungeon in Rome." Then, lifting his eyes toward heaven, the prisoner said,"Oh, God, have I fallen so low?" Then turning his face to the painter he cried, "Leonardo DaVinci! Look at me again for I am the same man you painted just seven years ago as the figure of Christ."

This is the true story of the painting of The Last Supper that teaches so strongly the lesson of the effects of right or wrong thinking on the life of an individual. Here was a young man whose character was so pure, unspoiled by the sins of the world that he presented a countenance of innocence and beauty fit to be used for the painting of a representation of Christ. But within seven years, following the thoughts of sin and a life of crime, he was changed into a perfect picture of the most traitorous character ever known in the history of the world.

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Holwick - I researched this illustration on the internet and was able to find references to Da Vinci's search for models (article below), but not the episode about Judas. For a contemporary account of the Judas image, see at bottom.

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Leonardo Da Vinci's Painting "Last Supper"

April 4, 1991

In 1495, at the request of Lodovico Sforza, Leonardo da Vinci began the Last Supper on the wall of the refectory (dining hall) in the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The painting is so prodigious, both in fact and in its influence, so familiar throughout the Western world, that discussing it is like saying a few words about the Atlantic Ocean.

The faces in the painting, with the exception of Christ's, are reportedly those of actual people Leonardo sought out in the near Milan. To locate an appropriate Judas, Leonardo spent so much time wandering through the haunts of Milanese criminals that the prior (administrator) of Santa Maria delle Grazie complained to Sforza of his "laziness". To this, Leonardo replied that he was indeed having difficulty finding Judas; but if pressed, he could use the head of the prior, which would do very nicely.

In addition to using living models for the disciples, Leonardo surrounded them with objects then in everyday use ... in the painting, the tablecloth, knives, forks, glassware, and china were all similar to those of the monks themselves. The effect of the painting, at least as it appeared at the time of its completion in 1498, must have been an overwhelming reversal of reality and illusion: the actual room became an extension of the picture.

According to Leonardo da Vinci, "Painted figures ought to be done in such a way that those who see them will be able to easily recognize from their attitudes the thoughts of their minds". Leonardo's Last Supper ... exemplifies his maxim that figures should express emotional and psychological realism. The stable and calm figure of Christ, who is both on the axis and the focal point of the scientific perspective construction, forms a triangle, symbolic of the Trinity. Christ's followers are composed in four groups of three apostles each.

The agitated movement of the apostles reveals their psychological turmoil in reaction to Christ's declaration, "I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me" (Matt. 26:21). In earlier Last Supper paintings, Judas had been shown on our side of the table, removed from the space occupied by Christ and his apostles. Leonardo, however, kept Judas with his fellow apostles. The fourth figure from the left, he is shown recoiling from Christ. Judas is the only figure whose face is lost in shadow, a subtle indication that he is lost from the light of Christ. The hands of Christ are directed toward the bread and wine on the table, suggesting the institution of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.

Material taken from:

"The World of Leonardo 1452-1519," by Robert Wallace

"Art Past, Art Present," by David G. Wilkins and Bernard Schultz

Abbott Loop Community Church email: lynn@abbottloop.org

Preaching and teaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!

907-349-9641 2626 Abbott Road, Anchorage, Alaska 99507 USA

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http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vasari1.html

Giorgio Vasari: Life of Leonardo da Vinci, 1550

He also painted in Milan, for the Friars of S. Dominic, at S. Maria dell Grazie, a Last Supper, a most beautiful and marvellous thing; and to the heads of the Apostles he gave such majesty and beauty, that he left the head of Christ unfinished, not believing that he was able to give it that divine air which is essential to the image of Christ. This work, remaining thus all but finished, has ever been held by the Milanese in the greatest veneration, and also by strangers as well; for Leonardo imagined and succeeded in expressing that anxiety which had seized the Apostles in wishing to know who should betray their Master. For which reason in all their faces are seen love, fear, and wrath, or rather, sorrow, at not being able to understand the meaning of Christ; which thing excites no less marvel than the sight, in contrast to it, of obstinacy, hatred, and treachery in Judas; not to mention that every least part of the work displays an incredible diligence, seeing that even in the tablecloth the texture of the stuff is counterfeited in such a manner that linen itself could not seem more real.

It is said that the Prior of that place kept pressing Leonardo, in a most importunate manner, to finish the work; for it seemed strange to him to see Leonardo sometimes stand half a day at a time, lost in contemplation, and he would have like him to go on like the labourers hoeing in his garden, without ever stopping his brush. And not content with this, he complained of it to the Duke, and that so warmly, that he was constrained to send for Leonardo and delicately urged him to work, contriving nevertheless to show him that he was doing all this because of the importunity of the Prior. Leonardo, knowing that the intellect of that Prince was acute and discerning, was pleased to discourse at large with the Duke on the subject, a thing which he had never done with the Prior: and he reasoned much with him about art, and made him understand that men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the most wh en they work the least, seeking out inventions with the mind, and forming those perfect ideas which the hands afterwards express and reproduce from the images already conceived in the brain. And he added that two heads were still wanting for him to paint; that of Christ, which he did not wish to seek on earth; and he could not think that it was possible to conceive in the imagination that beauty and heavenly grace which should be the mark of God incarnate. Next, there was wanting that of Judas, which was also troubling him, not thinking himself capable of imagining features that should represent the countenance of him who, after so many benefits received, had a mind so cruel as to resolve to betray his Lord, the Creator of the world. However, he would seek out a model for the latter; but if in the end he could not find a better, he should not want that of the importunate and tactless Prior. This thing moved the Duke wondrously to laughter, and he said that Leonardo had a thousand reasons on his side. And so the poor Prior, in confusion, confined himself to urging on the work in the garden, and left Leonardo in peace, who finished only the head of Judas, which seems the very embodiment of treachery and inhumanity; but that of Christ, as has been said, remained unfinished.

See also http://www.truthorfiction.com/lastsupper/ which disputes that Da Vinci used the same model for Jesus and Judas.

[see also HolwickID #30203]

Character Traits of Extraordinary Leaders

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When people make a decision (either consciously or unconsciously) to follow your leadership, they do it primarily because of one of two things: Your character or your skills. They want to know if you are the kind of person they want to follow and if you have the skills to take them further. Yes, there are other variables but these are the bulk of the matter. This week we will focus on the kind of character that causes people to follow your leadership.

1. Integrity. Integrity is doing what you say you will. You are trustworthy. People can rely on you. You keep your promises. The one thing that will keep most people from following you is if they are unsure of whether you will actually take them where you say you will. Are you known as a person of integrity? If so, you will become an Extraordinary Leader!

2. Optimism. People don't want to follow someone who thinks the future is bad! They want to follow those who can see the future and let them know that there is a better place and that they can get them there! Do you see the cup as half empty? Then you are a pessimist. Do you see it as half full? Then you are an optimist. Do you see it as totally full - half air and half water? Then you are a Super Optimist! Are you known as an optimist? If so, you will become an Extraordinary Leader!

3. Embraces Change. Leaders are the ones who will see the need for change and willingly embrace it. Followers will at first desire to stay where they are. Leaders need to see the benefits of change and communicate that to their followers. If you don't change, you won't grow! Are you known as a person who embraces change? If so, you will become an Extraordinary Leader!

4. Risk Taker. Whenever we try something new, we are taking a risk. That is part of growing though, and it is imperative. Most people are risk averse. Not the leader! They calculate the risk and what is to be gained from taking the risk. Then they communicate that to the followers and away they go to a better tomorrow! Are you known as a person who is willing to takerisks? If so, you will become an Extraordinary Leader!

5. Tenacious. The tendency of the follower is to quit when the going gets tough. Two or three tries and their motto becomes "If at first you don't succeed, give up and try something else." Not the leader! They know what good lies beyond this brick wall and they will go and get it. Then they will take others with them! Are you known as a person who is tenacious? If so, you will become an Extraordinary Leader!

6. Catalytic. A leader is ultimately one who gets people going. They are able to move others out of their comfort zone and on toward the goal! They can raise the passion, enthusiasm and the ACTION of those who would follow. Are you known as a catalyst? If so, you will become an Extraordinary Leader!

7. Dedicated/Committed. Followers want people who are more devoted and committed than themselves. At the first sign of lack of commitment, followers scatter for the doors. If the leader sees the end and is bailing out, they better get out first. Followers follow those who will stick it out because they see the importance of the task and the goal. Are you known as a person who is committed and devoted to the goal? If so, you will become an Extraordinary Leader!

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Chris Widener is a popular speaker and author as well as the President of Made for Success.

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Phil Donahue, the former television talk show host, had something of a reputation for giving clergy a hard time, and he has said the reason he's that way is that he has little respect for them. Most clergy will do anything for some media attention, he says.

In his autobiography, however, he tells about an encounter with a minister who was different. It happened while Donahue was a young television reporter in Ohio, and one day he was sent to West Virginia in the bitter cold winter to cover a mine disaster. He went by himself in a battered little car, carrying a minicam to film the story.

It was so cold when he got there, however, the camera wouldn't work. So he put it inside his coat to warm it up enough to run. In the meantime, the families of the trapped miners were gathered around. They were just simple mining people -- women, old men, and children. Several of the trapped men were fathers.

Then the local minister arrived. He was rough-hewn, and he didn't speak well at all. But he gathered all the families around in a circle, and they held one another in their arms while he prayed for them.

As this was going on, Donahue was still trying to get his camera to work, and he was incredibly frustrated because he couldn't film the poignant scene. Finally, after the prayer was over, Donahue managed to get his camera operating. So he told the minister he had his camera working now and asked if the minister would please do the prayer again so he could film it for the evening news.

This simple West Virginia preacher, however, told Donahue, “Young man, we don't pray for the news. I'm sorry, but we've already prayed, and I will not pose.”

To this day, Donahue remembers that minister with respect. You don't forget that kind of character, no matter who you are or what you believe.

The Tale Of The Tardy Oxcart

Charles R. Swindoll, Word, pp. 66-57.

CHARACTER

(OURS SHOULD BE LIKE JESUS)

Joe was a drunk who was miraculously converted at a Bowery mission. Prior to his conversion, he had gained the reputation of being a dirty wino for whom there was no hope, only a miserable existence in the ghetto. But following his conversion to a new life with God, everything changed. Joe became the most caring person that anyone associated with the mission had ever known. Joe spent his days and nights hanging out at the mission, doing whatever needed to be done. There was never anything that he was asked to do that he considered beneath him. Whether it was cleaning up the vomit left by some violently sick alcoholic or scrubbing toilets after careless men left the men's room filthy, Joe did what was asked with a smile on his face and a seeming gratitude for the chance to help. He could be counted on to feed feeble men who wandered off the street and into the mission, and to undress and tuck into bed men who were too out of it to take care of themselves.

One evening, when the director of the mission was delivering his evening evangelistic message to the usual crowd of still and sullen men with drooped heads, there was one man who looked up, came down the aisle to the altar, and knelt to pray, crying out for God to help him to change. The repentant drunk kept shouting, "Oh God! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe!

The director of the mission leaned over and said to the man, Son, I think it would be better if you prayed, 'Make me like Jesus.

The man looked up at the director with a quizzical expression on his face and asked, "Is he like Joe?"

More Stories For The Heart

Alice Gray, Multnomah, p. 29.

Sermon in Colossians series. Colossians 3:12-14

THE LATEST FASHION

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I. Slaves of fashion.

II. We have to dress right for God's sake.

A. Three things God has done for us.

B. What we should do for God.

III. The five garments of fashionable Christians.

A. Compassion.

B. Kindness.

C. Humility.

D. Gentleness.

E. Patience.

IV. Our final accessory should be love.

A. Agape love.

B. Love binds it all together in perfect unity.

C. Start adding to your wardrobe.

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The story is told in 1 Samuel 17 that young King David did a very peculiar thing as he faced his enemy. The scene was undoubtedly tense: Israel stood poised on one mountain, the Philistines on another, the valley of Elah between them. His tormentor, Goliath, stood over nine feet tall, fully clothed in armor of bronze and holding an enormous spear. David was hardly a fit for the challenge. He was the smallest, the youngest of brothers, the one who was supposed to be shepherding the family sheep. And he had no armor or spear of his own.

Now, on David's side stood King Saul who acted as any concerned person does when someone he loves faces a battle in a valley where life isn't fair. He offered strategic advice, took his own armor, dressed David in it, and sent him off with a sword and a blessing. But David refused them. He took off Saul's armor and left the sword behind. And the Scriptures tell us that with his shepherd's bag, five stones and a sling, David defeated Goliath.

This familiar Bible story is one in which children rightfully take delight. But I tell it to rouse our imaginations to a potent image of Christianity. You see, in this scene we learn through young David that when our identity is found in God, authenticity and obedience are natural responses to life.

Indeed, David went into that valley authentically, facing Goliath as no one but himself, but not with confidence in his own being. David's confidence was rooted in what he knew God to be. Thus, young David walked forward in obedience to the One who walked beside him; he walked forward with an identity shaped by the presence of the living God.

Moreover, as one commentary observes, “It would have been natural for a youth... to make a parade of his gallantry. But David's piety sank all consideration of his own prowess and ascribed the success of those achievements to the divine aid, which he felt assured would not be withheld from him in a cause which so intimately concerned the safety and honor of His people.” [1]

You see, in obedience to the living God we find authenticity of character. Identity no longer has to be an uncomfortable search, or a timid view of life behind a mask. It is an adventurous display of a relationship with the One who knows you better than you know yourself.

Dear friend, as God revealed himself to David, so Christ has revealed himself to you and me. Truly, in Christ we can know the freedom of transformation and the strength that comes from leaving behind the masks of men and putting on the armor of God.

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1. JFB Commentary http://mydevotion.com/logos/htmljfb/1Samuel17.htm

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Copyright © 2003 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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Version from 5/16/05:

The young David did a peculiar thing as he faced a formidable enemy. The scene was undoubtedly tense: Israel stood poised on one mountain, the Philistines on another; the valley of Elah was positioned between them. His tormentor, Goliath, stood over nine feet tall, and was fully clothed in armor of bronze. He held in his arms an enormous spear. David was hardly fit for the challenge. He was the smallest and the youngest of brothers. He was the one given the menial task of shepherding the family sheep. He had no armor or spear of his own.

On David's side stood King Saul who acted as any concerned person does when someone he loves faces a battle in a valley where life isn't fair: he offered strategic advice, took his own armor, dressed David in it, and sent him off with a sword and a blessing. But David refused them. He took off Saul's armor and left the sword behind. And with his shepherd's bag, five stones and a sling, David defeated Goliath.

This familiar story, told in 1 Samuel 17, is one in which children rightfully take delight. But I think it can also stir in our imaginations a potent image of following Christ. As I read this account of David, I wrestle with thoughts of identity. Would I have taken the armor off though it wasn't my own? Would I have been myself, aware of my own abilities, or would I have tried to make someone else's armor my confidence? David is for me a helpful reminder that when our identity is found in God, authenticity and obedience are natural responses to life: David took off the breastplate of Saul because he knew the fortress of God.

David went into the valley authentically, facing Goliath as no one but himself, going forth not with confidence in his own being, nor confidence in armor, but with confidence in the character of God. He walked forward in obedience to the one who walked beside him; he walked forward with an identity shaped by the presence of the living God. David knew as a young boy what he would proclaim throughout his life: “Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:6-7). The man who sought after God's own heart found God's assurance and strength thrown in.

Abandoning ourselves to the person of God, we find ourselves able to become the person He's created us to be. David's bout with Goliath reminds us that identity no longer has to be an uncomfortable search, or a timid view of life behind a mask. It is a bold display of a relationship with the one who knows we better than we know ourselves.

Throughout David's life, God revealed Himself in valleys of death and shadows as the God who is present. So Christ continues to reveal himself in our every trial and temptation. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). In Christ we can know the freedom of transformation and the strength that comes from leaving behind the masks of men and putting on the identity of God.

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Copyright © 2005 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #17777]