Tonight, Christian’s teaching was about character, and what it is, exactly.  Character can be defined in many different ways, but Christian described character as how you act when nobody’s around. If, for instance, you ACT like a “good Christian” on the outside, but do random drugs and murder people when you’re at home alone, then your character probably isn’t very strong. Unfortunately, we tend to let our facades slip when nobody’s watching us. Referring back to a previous post, we may act a certain way because of who we’re with, how we’re feeling, or what people expect of us. But who we TRULY are is defined by the way we act when there are no expectations, nobody around to judge, and no reward in it for us. Sacrificing time, money, energy, and/or sleep are all signs of character. Those of us who help the old lady with her groceries, who pick up the dropped papers for the college kid, who spend time consoling a friend in tears even though it makes us late for class…these are people of character.

Think about it. The times when we have nothing to gain by helping someone, when we actually stand to lose something — those are the times when our character truly shows. When we sacrifice ourselves for someone in need, we show character. Your true character shows when nobody’s watching. Will you choose to help, or to pass on the other side?

This is tough to hear, I know. Fortunately for most of us (myself included), character is actually easy to build! All we need to do to build character is to practice. When given a choice between school and Facebook this week, try picking school sometime. It builds character. It’s hard at first, but once you get the little things, the bigger things will come more naturally. Every little thing builds your character up a little more each time. Try it out. It actually works!