CHARACTER FORMATION

With the intellectual, financial, and spiritual power we acquire, most times what separates us amongst men is our character. Your knowledge, hard work, and handiwork can make you successful but character is one of the factors for maintaining success. Never be of the misconception that character has little or no role to play in your all-round development. Your attitude can speak a thousand words even in your silence.

Character refers to all the qualities and features that make a person, groups of people, and places different from others. Developing a good character takes self discipline. There are many factors that will affect our character negatively or positively it's just left for us to decide which way to tilt to. Charisma may be useful in getting short-term attention, but it is largely useless when it comes to achieving a long-term impact on people. For this, we need character.

So the question is, how do we cultivate good character? Character is shaped by certain forces, if we want to develop our character we need to pay attention to them.
#The information we consume: you need a sound and informed mind to be able to function. The mind is a place where information is absorbed and processed before execution by the body (our character). Computer literates will usually say "garbage in, garbage out". The same is true with our personal lives. Watching endless hours on mindless television, viewing violence or pornography erodes our character. We must be attentive to the input we consume, it affects us in deep and profound ways. It is the bedrock on which our character is built or developed. According to 2Corinthians. 10:4-5, the major demonic strongholds against us are not physical assaults, they are in the mind; thoughts and arguments etc. You need to free your mind from the bondage of the enemy by subjecting it to the power of God's word through study, meditation and prayer.
*Our cycle of friends: Jim Rohn taught that " you are the average of the five people you spend most time with". If this is true-- we have to be more intentional about the people we choose to associate with. If you want good character traits, associate with people who have healthy ones. Dissociate from people who reinforce your worst traits ( see 1corinthians 15:33). Flee from relationships that pull you down.

Character develops over time and it is often triggered by the things we see, the books we read, and also the association we keep. We have to make a deliberate effort to stay clear from things that do not add value to our lives. Work on your inside and let it reflect on the outside. True change comes from within and expresses itself without.

Character formation has often been neglected based on the ignorance of its significance but it's too important to be ignored. Throughout time, many have acknowledged the importance of character for a flourishing life and a virtuous, stable, noble and upright society. For us not to be hooligans in our society we need to consciously work on our character. We have to deeply cultivate internalised pattern of values, attitudes and actions.

A good character is more precious than worldly possessions,(Eccl7: 1)and the work of forming is the noblest in which men can engage  (Testimonies for the church 1881)

Do not be of the assumption that worldly possessions will elevate you, do not be tossed by the wave of ignorance but rather pay adequate  attention to virtues and values. To attain perfection of character is not an easy matter but it's also not impossible. A noble character is earned by individual effort through the merits and grace of Christ. Don't let your public image to be better developed than your personal character. If your character is left unchecked it can destroy your legacy. In the end, it us our character that makes or breaks us.