Resources on Character
Alexander Whyte reflects on the sad condition of those who are never wrong: “The mulish, obstinate, and proud man never says, I don’t know. He never asks anything to be explained to him. He never admits that he has got any new light. He never admits having spoken or acted wrongly. He never takes back what he has said. He was never heard to say, You are right in that line of action, and I have all along been wrong. Had he ever said that, the day he said it would have been a white-stone day both for this mind and his heart.” – Alexander Whyte, Bunyan Characters. 1893 (vol. 1 of Bunyan Characters; Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2000), 26.
Read More“Every leader has (or should have) a moral code – a spur that gets him up in the morning, and a matrix that tells him what he may, what he must, and what he must not do. He has to decide if his moral beliefs are sensible, and if his line of work suits them, and he should know that those decisions may cost him time and money, perhaps popularity and power. “The varieties of bravery are not necessarily connected. Benedict Arnold was as brave a warrior as George Washington, and had a shattered leg to prove it, but he did not have the courage of his convictions, because he had no convictions. Bravery is a quality a leader must…
Read MoreOne of the virtues almost universally associated with heroism has been courage. For example, it is almost impossible for most of us to consider its opposite, cowardice, as heroic. Although Christian heroism is far broader than courage alone, certainly courage is an indispensable part of it. The writer of Hebrews tells us to look to Jesus, who ‘endured the cross’ (Hebrews 12:2), and to ‘consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted’ (12:3). The endurance described here is courage over time. This is not the single-act heroism of a daring exploit that might be over in a few seconds. This is the long-term refusal to give in to fear,…
Read More“In the older world we left behind, people thought of adversity as inevitable. Adversity was a consequence of the fall for those of a Christian outlook. But even for non-Christians it was never seen as an unexpected intruder in life. It was never thought that life should be without pain. Pain, disease, setbacks, disappointments, and wrong done to us were all seen as part of our life in this world, part of its texture, a thread woven with all the other threads through the fabric of our daily experience. Adversity was seen, even, as a necessary component in life. Today we resent adversity as an interruption in our pleasure seeking, a rude disruption of our opportunities and our sense of…
Read MoreFrom a speech at Hillsdale College by former Congressman Mike Pence. Mr. Pence was elected governor of Indiana last year: There is no finer, more moving, or more profound understanding of the nature of the presidency and the command of humility placed upon it than that expressed by President [Calvin] Coolidge. He, like Lincoln, lost a child while he was president, a son of sixteen. “The day I became president,” Coolidge wrote, “[Calvin, Jr.] had just started to work in a tobacco field. When one of his fellow laborers said to him, ‘If my father was president I would not work in a tobacco field,’ Calvin replied, ‘If my father were your father you would.”‘ His admiration for the boy…
Read More“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14). Love is the preeminent Christian virtue. Justice, self-control, courage, and wisdom may mark our lives, but without love we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2). Our obligation to love is all encompassing. We Christians must love our brothers and sisters in Christ. With all of our family sins and failures and shortcomings, that looms a monumental challenge, and without God’s help, proves insurmountable. But loving our dear Christian brothers and sisters is only the starting line. To finish our lives well our enemies too must be loved and prayed for, and for them, God’s blessings sought. It’s at this point that character faces its severest test. “Bless those…
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