Character by Character
“By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice and received what God had promised them.” (Heb. 11:33)
The catalogue of the people of great faith in Hebrews 11 could easily sound hard to reach – almost impossible to join. Yet our Lord’s brother James asserts about one of them, that ‘Elijah was a man with a nature like ours’ – he write this to convince us that we too can walk in great faith, do similar exploits and even join the list! What was the character of these characters? As one individual put it, ‘be concerned about your character and not your reputation because your character is who you are and your reputation is only what people think of you. Whereas reputation usually varies with people’s perception of an individual, character remains consistent with who one is.
On its face, ‘character’ is a morally neutral term. Every person, from the iconic personalities like Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada and Philanthropists like Mother Teresa, had a character. We use the term character to describe a person’s most prominent attributes, it is the sum total of the features and traits that form an individual’s nature. The Bible presents us with the various characters (people) that are relevant to our lives and circumstances we might be facing at the moment. In the way they executed different missions, exercised their faith and obedience, they left marks of reference in their service to God. If we behold them and imitate their faith, we grow in the character that made them great before God.
It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. (Joshua 2:1-10). Many would assume that Rahab, a pagan, a Canaanite and a prostitute would never be interested in God; yet Rahab was willing to risk everything she had for the God she barely knew, when she saved the spies.
In 1Kings 17-18, we find Elijah, a man of humble background who delivers God’s messages and stands against King Ahab’s corruptions and idolatries; and he succeded! In Esther 2, we find a Jewish girl of humble background, and now in a foreign land; she climbs via the ladder of a beauty contest to become Queen. Encouraged by her cousin Mordecai, Esther’s remarkable fasting a prayer saved her fellow Jews from being exterminated; these same prayers led to the execution (by hanging) of the Haman, the enemy of the Jews!
“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to fight the armies of the aliens.” (Heb. 11:32-34)
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Prov 27:17). During this forthcoming lent season, accept the shaping of your life by the characters that remained faithful in their service to God and people, amidst challenging times. God bless you.