AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER

Today we will be looking into the question of "Who Am I" ...

Your character is your personality.Your character has many characteristics, which are different qualities, good or bad, that make up the person you are, and the combination of those characteristics is what makes each person unique, or different from every other person on earth.

How do you 'build' your character? By the choices you make.Let me give you an example. Let's take the characteristic called kindness.Each time you choose to do something kind, it strengthens that characteristic and you become a kinder person.This makes you even more likely to be kind the next time the choice of whether to be kind or not is presented to you.

Remember, what we learned in yesterday's step ...
Jesus said if we use the 'talents' that He gave us ...
We would be given even more.

In this step, we're going to look at some different characteristics of one who was called to REPRESENT.

Jesus gave us a couple of new Commandments in the New Testament which both have to do with ... LOVE. So, being a loving person is definitely a characteristic you'll want to develop.When you have love, it's a lot easier to build all the other good characteristics because God IS love, and with God in you, nothing is impossible.

The next characteristic we're going to look at is honesty.
Honesty is sharing TRUTH. Jesus said the TRUTH shall set you free.

How does the TRUTH set you free? Well, if you tell the TRUTH, you never have to be imprisoned by a lie, having to keep track of things you said, or always being on guard to make sure nobody ever finds out about it. You never have to worry about anything. Many times you have to tell more than one lie to cover up the first one, and lies have a way of multiplying until everything is a big mess. Another thing to remember is that the devil is the father of liars.

Being honest is also one of the top ten (Commandments).

What is false witness? False witness is a false account of something that happened, in other words, lying.

Your ATTITUDE is a very important part of your character. Your attitude is the way you feel about something. Being optimistic is a good attitude to have. Why? Because it chases away fear and fear comes from the devil. Do you look for the good in people and circumstances, or do you usually expect the worst?

Remember that what you believe, you receive, so if you expect the best, what is likely to happen? Search for the good qualities in others. Try and bring out their best qualities by always faithfully displaying your own godly qualities. Point out to people their good points. Compliment them, in front of others. They will be proud that you noticed their goodness, and it will encourage them to exhibit those characteristics in themselves more often, and remember, the more they use the good gifts that the Lord gave them, the more good they will receive. By doing this, you're planting good seeds, and God will make them grow!

Not only does your attitude affect YOU, but it affects OTHERS too. A good attitude is contagious, but so is a bad attitude. If you want to be a Christ-like example to others, a good attitude REPRESENTS Jesus. It's easy to have a good attitude about things that we're in harmony with, but let's talk about your attitude about things that you may disagree about or things that you may not like.

Let's say, for instance, that your parents ask you to baby sit your baby sister on Saturday afternoon, and you don't want to, because you wanted to do something else. You fuss about it, so that makes your parents angry. You scowl and the baby senses your bad attitude, so she cries for two hours until she finally falls asleep. Your parents don't have a very enjoyable afternoon, because they're worried that something may happen because of your attitude. You didn't even get any homework done because the baby was so upset. When your parents get home, you can feel that they're still mad at you, so the whole evening is ruined too, because everyone is in a bad mood. You see how a poor attitude can affect others as well as yourself?

I have something to tell you, both as your friend, and as a fellow Christian, but I must warn you, this is one of those wounds of a friend, that we talked about at the very beginning of this program. Life isn't all about fun and what we want to do, when we want to do it, even though we'd like it to be that way at times.

God has given you the gift of being a shepherd, so you are expected be more responsible than others. That responsibility includes things like sacrifice when you may not feel like giving, kindness when others may not be kind to you, selflessness when others are being selfish, strength when you feel week, forgiveness when you've been insulted or hurt or sinned against, love when you are hated, patience when you feel like you can't wait for something, kindness when others are unkind to you, enthusiasm when others don't care, eagerness when others are lazy, and love when people are being hateful. As a shepherd, you are extraordinary, and you are expected to act like it. You may have heard the phrase 'mind over matter' before. That's the ability to control your thoughts about something even when it's something that would cause the average person to be emotional about it. All the examples that you just read are mind over matter. With a Christ-like mind, no matter what the matter is, you can control your attitude about it and act on it with a Christ-like response.

Each and every day of your life, your character will be tested by the world. You're also being tested by God, to see if you're worthy of the everlasting life that He promises to you as a Christian. Every day is a new day, and new and different challenges will come about to see if you will handle them with godly character.

Another part of your character is your trustworthiness. Do you keep promises that you make? Do you take care of your responsibilities? Are you punctual? Can people count on you when they're in a jam?

Many people think that being funny and making people laugh is an important part of a person's character. The problem is that most people don't know how to do this without being cruel or nasty or offensive to others. Always ask yourself if what you're about to say or do for the sake of humor is something that Jesus would do or say. In fact, that's a good rule to keep about everything you do.

We're not supposed to judge other people, but we are supposed to be a good judge of character. That means that you should be able to tell by the way a person talks and acts, if they are someone you want to associate with. You become what you surround yourself with, so if you befriend people who don't have the same values that you have or want, you'll find yourself becoming like them the more you hang around them. There is an exception to this though. If there is a lost sheep that needs your help, never turn them away. Sometimes it takes a while for people who have been lost to change their ways and if you don't allow them to surround themselves with good, how will they learn to become more like you?

I'd like you to take a moment to think about the heroes of the world. Jesus, Robin Hood, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King, Jr., Samson, King David. They all had some common characteristics, but an important one that they all shared was determination. No matter what obstacles were in front of them, they didn't give up their cause, and as a shepherd, you must be determined in your heart to live in God's image, for His glory, and to be an example to lead His precious sheep to do the same.

To continue our program, you can return tomorrow and select:

STEP #3

I'll meet you there!

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