“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
― Maya Angelou
Does God like ice cream?
In Genesis 1:27, we are told that God created man in his image. Let that thought sink in for a bit – we are made in the image of the all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal God! I prefer to view that passage as saying, “Man is created as a reflection of God”, like an image in a mirror. Physically, we reflect to the world the image of God but what about the character of God? How is that reflected in us? As Christians, it is up to us to make choices in our lives that reflect the character of God for the world to see. Unfortunately, this process of character development takes a long time, usually a lifetime! When the world sees us as the imperfect characters we are, it assumes that Christians are hypocrites because we profess our faith to a perfect God but we cannot begin to approach that in our own behavior. If only the world would see that we are all people on a never-ending journey seeking to be more and more like Christ. Some may have a slight advantage in that they don’t have as far to travel but most of us begin the journey so far removed from Christ that it is obvious to all we have a long way to go.
I feel like I have been through years of character development with some areas of success and many areas lacking. Right now, in the midst of a storm, I am in a phase of character revelation. As I deal with Akhil’s ALS, my true character is being revealed to me and the world. I hope in some small way, I am able to glorify God by reflecting aspects of His character to the world. As you go through the trials in your life, ask yourself which character traits of God are being given the opportunity to be reflected in you. They are probably the ones that He took the time to fully develop in you before the storm hit.
I feel like I have been through years of character development with some areas of success and many areas lacking. Right now, in the midst of a storm, I am in a phase of character revelation. As I deal with Akhil’s ALS, my true character is being revealed to me and the world. I hope in some small way, I am able to glorify God by reflecting aspects of His character to the world. As you go through the trials in your life, ask yourself which character traits of God are being given the opportunity to be reflected in you. They are probably the ones that He took the time to fully develop in you before the storm hit.
“A man of character finds a special attractiveness in difficulty, since it is only by coming to grips with difficulty that he can realize his potentialities.”
― Charles de Gaulle
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