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The foundation of Christian leadership is character. Leaders may have charisma and ability, but if they do not have character, their influence will not last.
“Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.” (I Timothy 3:2-7)
Almost all of the qualifications Paul lists for leaders are related to character. (Only one, able to teach, refers to the leader’s gifts or abilities.)
Theodore Roosevelt, one of the strongest leaders in American history, said, “Character is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.” (Quoted in www.josephsoninstitute.org)
Character is defined by the following statements.
- Character is the sum total of the principles and motives that control a person’s life.
“Character is clearly distinct from such concepts as personality, image, reputation, or celebrity. It is the inner reality and quality in which thoughts, speech, decision, behavior, and relations are rooted. As such, character determines behavior just as behavior demonstrates character.” (Os Guinness, Character Counts, p. 12)
- Character is the actions of a person under pressure.
“The depth and strength of human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.” (Leon Trotsky, Diary in Exile, entry for 5 April 1935)
“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, www.quotationspage.com/subjects/character)
Dwight Moody once said, “Character is what you are in the dark.”
- Character is who you are; reputation is who people think you are.
“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” (Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln’s Own Stories)
The English Prime Minister William Gladstone once said, “Character must not be confused with reputation. Character is what a man is: reputation may be what he is not. Character is one’s intrinsic value; reputation is what is thought of him - his value in the market of public opinion. Character is stable and enduring; while the reputation of a man is like his shadow; it sometimes follows and sometimes precedes him; it is sometimes longer, it is sometimes shorter than himself.”
 Character is the image of God stamped on a person.
The English word character comes from the Greek word “charasso” which means “to cut into, to engrave, to stamp upon by application of pressure.” It first denoted, “a tool for engraving” and then, “a stamp” as on a coin or a seal. (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words)
The stamp used in minting coins had the image of an emperor or a divine personage upon it. When it was pressed into molten silver or gold it would transfer that image to the coin. Character is God’s image stamped upon our life.
To be continued…
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