It is about CHARACTER

My devotion for today is about CHARACTER.  There was two points to remember (not to mention that there are lots to say about character according to the Bible)

Does your reputation reflect your Character?

Proverbs 27:21 " The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the priase he receives."

       God is more interested in our character than in our reputation.  We could do an act of giving to other people but infact, deep within  us, we don't actually feel doing it; and yet we still do it! Why? because we are conscious about what people might say about our reputation.  We, in human perspective, must always have a good reputation.  It isn't bad to have that one though, but in God's perspective, He wants our character than our reputation.  His goal is for us to be a righteous person, having a Christlike character.

      We should allow the Lord to refine our character and burn away all the impurities that we have until we are truly like Christ.  We may think we have a pretty good handle on what our character is like, but if we listen carefully to what God says about us, what we hear may surprise us!

When it's OK to cry

John 11: 25 "Jesus wept."
   

      I believe this is the shortest verse in my Bible.  (I assume that it is also in your Bible =)

But it is so good to know that, hey! my God wept too! This would really proved that my God had experienced what we, human are experiencing.  And I would say that He also weep like I often do. Men who are crying does not necessarily mean that they would lose their masculinity.  I have seen men who cried. I have seen my father cried, my uncles cried, my grandfather cried.  Some friends of mine do cry too. 

    But did you know why Christ wept? It is not because Lazarus died, because He was about to raise Lazarus back to life.  Christ wept because He saw the anguish and the hopelessness of His friends (Mary and Martha).  They were the closest friends of Christ. ( I could have just feel the priviledge of being Christ's friend, and in deed I am! I am a friend of God!)

    Tears aren't always a sign that we've lost our self-control.  Sometimes it shows that we, like Jesus, have the capacity for true compassion. 

   We can do something for our loved ones if they are in despair.  Our words might not enough to show that we care for those people that we love.  Sometimes, we tend to get frustrated if we feel that we can't help those people yet we know that we can do something for lessen the pain that they feel.  But I think the best thing that we could do for them (which includes praying for them) is simply just to listen and share their sorrow (1 Corinthians 12:26)