Daily Stop & Thinks

STOP AND THINK – Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all. (Sam Ewing, newspaper reporter and writer)

When you are faced with a difficult task, something that will require hard work, how do you respond? Ewing suggests three scenarios. Which one describes you best? The person of character will accept the task and will set about to accomplish it as effectively and efficiently as possible. We’d all like to have people with such character work for us.

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. (Proverbs 14:23)

STOP AND THINK – A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation. (Mark Twain, American author and humorist)

When you hear someone repeatedly use inappropriate language (curses, suggestive innuendo, etc.), don’t you sometimes wonder what that person is really like? Is their thought-life cluttered with such trash? Twain might be giving us a good clue in evaluating someone’s true self, their character. Keep your mind clean and you won’t have to clean up your mouth.

Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. (James 3:2)

STOP AND THINK – Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. (Helen Keller, deaf and blind American author and lecturer)

If anyone ever demonstrated he truth of that statement, it was the author. Ease was never her lot in life. Her trials and suffering were beyond what most of us will ever experience. Yet, she overcame those lifelong difficulties and displayed amazing abilities in spite of handicaps. Above all, she became an amazing example of strong character.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against . . . the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil. (Ephesians 6:12)

STOP AND THINK – The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience. (Harper Lee, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist)

Although the pressure to conform, to follow the crowd and its fashions may be great, what you decide to do in any given situation is your own choice—no one else’s. You may seek the advice of trusted counselors and advisors, but ultimately, you have to decide. Yours is the only vote that counts. Wise choices result in a clear conscience and show strong character.

[Moses] chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. (Hebrews 11:25)

STOP AND THINK – Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. (Walter Anderson, 20th century American artist, writer, and naturalist)

Anderson goes on to say, “I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.” It’s a choice we may all have to make at some time: give in to the hard trials and give up or determine to overcome adversity and value the life we can have.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

STOP AND THINK – Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character. (Albert Einstein, 20th century German-born theoretical physicist)

Einstein is remembered for his great mind and his scientific discoveries and research. While not noted, particularly, for his philosophical views, today’s statement is significant. It demonstrates once again how important attitudes are, for they are among the very few things we can control. Strength in attitudes that are right and proper will develop strong character.

You were taught … to put off your old self … [and] to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God. (Ephesians 4:22-24)

STOP AND THINK – Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. (Abraham Lincoln)

Times of trial may be good tests of your integrity. How do you react to troubles? What attitudes do you demonstrate and what is your behavior like? Lincoln thought highly of people, believing that they can respond well to difficulties, but his greater concern was how people respond when they are given authority and power. Good observation!

When the righteous triumph, there is great elation; but when the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding. (Proverbs 28:12)

STOP AND THINK – What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality. (Plutarch, 1st & 2nd century Greek historian and essayist)

Experience should teach us that what we are internally (mind and heart) ultimately determines how we behave outwardly. What we do in reality demonstrates what we really are. So, in addition to improving our physical skills—which, of course, we should try to do—we must work on the inner self, improving our mind, intellect, and character.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2)

STOP AND THINK – The best index to a person’s character is (a) how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can’t fight back. (Abigail van Buren, late advice columnist)

Being nice to people who are nice to us is easy. Treating people well who can do us some good in return is also easy. It’s the converse of these behaviors that is so much more difficult and will demonstrate our inner qualities—our character. We should determine to practice the “Golden Rule,” treating well with love and kindness those who may not act well in return.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31)

STOP AND THINK – Character is the desire to do what is right as God defines what is right regardless of the consequences. (Mike Lee, American pastor)

We might be tempted at times to do what is right because it is easy and there are no adverse consequences. But, what if doing right may put us in jeopardy because it’s not political correct or it isn’t the popular thing to do? Character begins with discerning what is right (the Bible is a big help here) and continues with pursuing the right, whatever the cost.

May integrity and uprightness protect me because my hope is in [God]. (Psalm 25:21)

STOP AND THINK – A single newspaper report gives your Reputation; a life of toil gives you your Character. (William Hershey Davis, Welsh poet and writer)

Your so-called “15 minutes of fame” will establish some kind of reputation for you. Whether it’s an article in the daily news or a TV report, people will think they know you on the basis of what they’ve read or seen. But that may not represent the real you, the person whose character has been established over a long period of faithfulness and integrity.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. (Proverbs 3:3)

STOP AND THINK – A man’s character is his fate. (Heraclitus, Greek philosopher of the 6th century B.C.)

What did the ancient Heraclitus mean? Was he implying that you can’t do anything about your character because it’s the result of something outside yourself? Or, was he indicating that our destiny is determined by the character we establish during our lifetime? The latter seems more biblical: what we are now gives evidence of what we will be later.

We are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him. … All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)