The Place of Character in Social or Marital Relationships

The Place of Character in Social or Marital Relationships

By Peace Wobo

I was invited to do an online talk on this topic sometimes in 2020 while Covid-19 kept us in lockdown. While I was meditating and musing on it, the Lord opened my eyes to the keyword or the main message “Character”. The major keyword here is character.

Character is a Greek word spelt as Kharakte`r meaning ‘a stamping tool’. From the early sense ‘distinctive mark’ arose ‘token, feature or trait’. It’s a description, especially of a person’s qualities giving rise to distinguishing qualities.

English Dictionary defines character as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.

So therefore, I would define character as what makes you stand out from any other person, it is your own customized stamp by which you are known by others.

As believers, we all had a way of life ‘character’ before we became born again. At the point of repentance, our spirit man was first regenerated but our character remained because it doesn’t change overnight but as we begin to study God’s word and walk in the spirit, our regenerated mind begins to transform our character to the character of Christ. It begins with our mind, ‘’Let this same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus’’ (Phi 2:5)

You must allow the mind of Christ for your life and character to conform to that of God.

There’s a common adage that says that your beauty can take you to places but only your character can keep you there! Let me rephrase that adage, “the grace of God can take you to places but only your character will determine how long that grace will speak for you”. The issue of character cannot be overemphasized for even God deals with us according to our character. Yes! He does. Psalms 18:26 “With the pure thou will show thyself pure, and with the froward thou will show thyself froward”. Did you see that?

Being forward is a lifestyle, being pure is a lifestyle and they are both associated with an individual’s character. Grace can’t cover for character neither can character measure up to God’s grace but having both in their good proportion makes one excel in social and marital relationships. You need to have a good character to enjoy a balanced social and marital life. You can’t give what you don’t have and don’t expect to get what you are unwilling to give.

Let’s go to 2 Peter 1:5-9 KJV

Fruitful Growth in the Faith

⁵ But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, ⁶ to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷ to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

We can see that Apostle Peter gave clear instructions of what a believer’s character ought to be made up of. If you have these things in you, you will have an outstanding character and you will enjoy a solid social and marital relationship no matter where you find yourself or the the kind of people you are dealing with because you won’t deal with them based on who they are but based on who you are. Character is Key!