This day I will be sharing very briefly a topic I call: “The Currency of Character”
2 Peter 1:5-8
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”
You know a lot of the time, if you ask people what drives them out of their houses in the morning everyday, you will find out that what they are majorly looking for is money.
In Ecclesiastes 10:19, the Bible says money answers all things and so if you are able to get money, it can address a number of things. It can pay your bills, a lot of things will be settled with money.
So money is like you are looking for currency for those who can get it, some even say “if I can get my money in hard currency, like dollars, pounds sterling, euros, etc, it is better”.
This is because though it’s good to have money but when you have hard currency, it feels better.
A Lot of times, our focus is on how do we get money, but this day I want to talk a little bit more about another currency, because sometimes we get caught up in the mindset that you only spend money but I will like to encourage you and challenge you this day that there are other dimensions you can spend, and one of things you can spend is your character.
Truly there are other dimension of things you have, that you can spend, one of the things you can deploy to meet your needs is your character.
Character itself can be a currency that has more weight than money, so I want us to look at character as a good currency that you can deploy.
A good place to start is to look at what is a currency?
Currency or money is a system that is generally put in use within a particular country to facilitate transactions, so let’s see the attributes of currency:
1. Currencies are a means of exchange, for example you can exchange N2000 to get few tomatoes.
2. Currencies are also stores of value: you can use your currency to store value, like the unit of an account,
3. It is measurable
You can say oh I have certain amount of money, I will pay you this if you work for me, so it’s a unit of account that can be measured!
For something to qualify as a currency, it must have met these requirements:
1. It has to be divisible: i.e you must be able to break it into smaller amounts
2. It must be portable, which can be in your pockets, in your bank accounts
3. It must be acceptable by everyone, though not everybody may have it, because it’s a scarce resource, but it must be acceptable by everyone
4. It must be scarce in order for it to have value
5. it must be durable: this means the currency must be in good shape despite been passed from one person to another
It must be stable in bargain, and this is why a lot of people have issue with the naira currency because it is a bit unstable, it could be N1000 today in forex exchange and become N1500 tomorrow
Do you often wonder why many people prefer to be paid or to earn in dollars and other foreign currencies, it is because they are looking for stability.
Now let’s consider character as a currency, and a good place to also start is: “what should the character of a man be”?
Now if you go to the beginning when man was designed in Genesis 1:26 that is, when the concept of man first came up.
The Trinity met and asked:
“How should we make this man”, afterwards they decided and said in Genesis 1:26, “let us make man in our image after our likeness”
God then gave man dominion over all creatures on earth, but God decided that man will have His likeness, that is, the image and character of God
So if you are going to have a character that carries real value, as much as possible it is expected that such character will mirror the likeness or the image of God
If you look quickly, what does God look like? What is the nature or character of God? I have highlighted 12 things about the character of God
Character Of God
1. God our Father, works John 5:17
2. God desires truth in the inward parts – Psalm 51:6
3. God has a Sceptre of Righteousness
4. God is Holy- He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Revelation 4:8, Habakkuk 1:13
5. God is plenteous in mercy – Psalm 103:8
6. He is generous, He gives rather than receive – John 3:16, Acts 20:35
7. God is faithful – 1 Corinthians 13:12
8. God is good – Psalm 34:8
9. God is just – Deuteronomy 32:4
10. God is gracious- Psalm 145:8
11. God is Loving- 1 John 4:7-8
12. God is glorious – Hebrews 3:4
These are attributes or the character of God, but believe it or not, this is your character if you can find it, this is who you were made to be.
You are created to be a person of integrity and truth, a person who mirrors God, so that when people look at you, in the mirror, they will see the image of Christ.
But the question is what do we see today? We see different forms of these attributes or character, sometimes we see elements of the character in people, at other times, we assume we see but really, the attributes are not there, it just appears to be there.
One of the ways to know whether what you are seeing is the correct character or not, is when you subject that person to what is called stress test.
A stress test is a kind of test that is done to see how a person or thing will behave when it is put under pressure or in a difficult situation.
So for instance, if the medical practitioners want to do a stress test on you, they may ask you to do physical work outs, and lots of exercises, afterwards, they will take a few measures to see how your body responds to pressure.
In the same way when you are put through a stress test, that’s when we will know what is truly on the inside of you.
You can also check the authenticity of an individual’s character through the way they behave when nobody sees what they are doing.
You can also check through the way people behave when they are given power.
When you see people who are doing the right thing even when nobody is checking, then you know their character is good and they are authentic.
So what do you do under pressure? It tells a lot about your character.
If you can still stand for truth, integrity and righteousness when you are under pressure, then your character is good.
Prayers On Building The Currency Of Character
1. Oh Lord please help me to make my character better it is now in Jesus name
2. Father let me be drawn to you through my character in Jesus name
3. Please work on my inside and help me to become like you truly in Jesus name
4. Lord I ask that you help me that my character will be a valuable currency for me not just on earth but also in heaven in Jesus name
5. Thank you Jesus for answering my prayers
To watch the full sermon, click on the link below:
