When character is taught...

Will and Ariel Durant once said that before the Grecian Empire died: "There was greater enlightenment than in any time in its history. Education was more widespread, literacy was at an all-time high; but they had long since ceased to teach character; and that's why they died."

Sound like contemporary Western civilization?

Character comes from the Greek charattein which means to engrave. More about that in a moment. Webster has these definitions, among others, for "character": a distinctive trait, behavior typical of a person or group, moral strength.

For the Christian the traits of holiness come to us in premier fashion in the personality and deeds of Jesus. You see them in didactic lists of Scripture like the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-12) or Paul's fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). But I have come to think that one of the greatest methods of teaching character to our children is through the stories of Jesus' life.

At random I opened the Gospels a moment ago and fell upon Mark 6. First paragraph on the page was Jesus sending the Twelve out on a mission. Many character qualities could perhaps be inferred, but one of them is certainly this - Jesus was sent, and He is sending. Hence, we should know we have been sent, and are sending...for the glory of God.

Are we?

On that "engraving" thought...the great Shema passage of Deuteronomy 6 has this line: "...teach them diligently to your sons..." Those words "teaching them diligently" in the NIV is "impress." The Hebrew word is shanan. In the Master Plan of Teaching this is how I explain that word:

Shanan..."occurs only nine times in the Old Testament and only once in the intensive stem of the verb called the Piel. That single time is here in these verses. Shanan is normally translated sharpen. But used in the intensive form, as it is here, shanan has a stronger sense. Related etymologically to the Hebrew word for tooth, it could here mean to "incise, or carve into." Essentially, train your children in the law of God so that their lives are permanently and irrevocably marked by its message."

Character is important, and frequently it starts in the family. But it must reverberate everywhere. For character impacts more than our family, it impacts the word. Impress, therefore, the holiness of Jesus on that world around you...today!

Are we idealists or realists? A devotional thought.

I ran across a description of what made Napolean Bonaparte such a great leader. It was said that he was an idealist who was also an amazing realist. He coupled the two and in doing so, set himself apart from others of his era.

It reminded me of the introduction of E. Stanley Jones's book Is the Kingdom of God Realism. In the introduction, he talks of his encounters with a young lady in Russia, a Marxist. She asked him if he was an idealist or a realist. Jones wasn't quite ready for that query - he stumbled into admitting he was an idealist. The lady dismissed him; she was a realist, and anybody else who wasn't was hardly relevant to the struggle of contemporary society.

It got Jones to thinking. The Word became flesh! The greatest idea - or Idea! - of all had become flesh, or real, for all of us. The Kingdom of God WAS realism. Nothing could be more real.

James Sire wrote the worldview volume titled The Universe Next Door. In it, he said that the definition of the Really Real was the starting point for an understanding of anyone's world view. The really Real.

For us that is, of course, God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we don't get to leave it at that - that God took on real human flesh.

It is said of the Athenians during the travels of Paul that they loved spending "their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas." (Acts 17:21) I am not sure a lower thing could be said of people interested in truth (particularly in a book titled ACTS!) But all too often that is what the local church is all about...sitting around, talking. Exchanging ideas. They are led by professors in seminaries who taught them doing the same thing.

In my seminary classes I want my students to hear this at least a dozen times: If you make disciples by sitting around and talking don't be surprised if your disciples sit around and talk.
Believe me, disciples like that are the ultimate in frustration for pastors around the world!

It is said that when the Word became flesh He went on the move in the real world...a world of lepers, demoniacs, hypocrites, the sexually abused and abusers, liars, cheats, murderers - a real world.

It is where we belong. To love, to heal, to redeem. That Word became flesh said, afterall, "Follow Me."