We see the slogan “Character Counts” on banners across elementary school entrance doors and are taught from young ages that who we are when no one’s watching is the real us.
Tonight six of us began a dinnertime chat that evolved into an hours-long discussion on the character of an individual. Although some people conduct their lives based on principles they refuse to compromise, others live in the wiggle-room between conviction and chaos.
Most of us know that doing the right thing in any given set of circumstances usually means making the hard choice, and that’s especially true when no one’s keeping track. But how many people actually do the right thing every time? Our conclusion was, not many.
What if we define the specific lines we won’t cross no matter what, and then a test comes? How likely is it we’ll stick to our guns? How likely we’ll give in?
Our discussion led us to several conclusions: First, Satan lives by a set of principles, too. The trouble is, his are always at odds with ours, if we’re Christians. The second conclusion: everything that coaxes us to violate our own standards comes from him. And the third: oftentimes we’re unaware of crossing our own lines-in-the-sand until both feet are planted on the wrong side, because of Satan’s subtle ways.
We tell ourselves, “A thought to do something bad is only a temptation, not a sin. I can’t help what pops into my head, and one thought leads to another. Until I’ve acted on it, it can’t be sin.” But that may be stretching the truth.
We came to a fourth conclusion: if Satan presses us hard to violate our principles for living but we prevail and make the hard right choice, he’ll be sure to return later with the same temptation, hoping repeated prodding will weaken our resolve.
Does Scripture teach us how to defend our principles?
First of all, it provides a flawless model in Jesus Christ. When we study his example, we see how to be faithful to right principles. Jesus lived a human life hounded by the devil just as we are, but he never crossed the line into sin. Satan often used the established Jewish hierarchy to harass him in an attempt to break down his resolve.
One day these men approached him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.” (Matthew 22:16) Then they went on to try to trap him with words. But in this introductory statement we find two keys to living a principled life: (1) Base it on “the way of God in accordance with the truth,” and (2) don’t be swayed by the opinions of others.
As we work at these two things, we’ll learn to deny our natural me-firsts and substitute the ways of Christ. With enough practice, we’ll stop justifying our sins and find ourselves doing the right thing, even when no one’s watching.
“Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)