The greatest test of character

What is the greatest test of character? It is not how we behave when everything is going well. Almost anyone can be pleasant when life is comfortable. The deeper test comes when we are hurt. When someone insults us. When someone betrays us. When someone treats us unfairly. When someone takes credit for our work, rejects us, lies about us, or hurts someone we love. That is when character is revealed.

Jesus gave His followers a standard that is impossible for the natural heart:

Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Why would Jesus ask such a thing? Because that is the character of God. God does good even to those who reject Him. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. He gives life even to those who deny Him. His love is not merely a response to human goodness. It flows from His character.

Joseph: the test with power in his hands

Joseph’s life gives us this test in its hardest form. His brothers threw him into a pit and sold him. He was falsely accused and spent years in prison. Then, in a reversal that no one expected, he became the most powerful man in Egypt under Pharaoh, and the brothers who had harmed him stood in front of him, needing food. He could have repaid them, and nobody in Egypt would have stopped him. Instead, he wept, and he told them:

But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.

After their father died, the brothers still feared that Joseph had only been waiting. He answered:

Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.

Notice that Joseph did not pretend that nothing had happened: “You meant evil against me.” He named the wrong. But he did not become what had been done to him. He surrendered the place of judge to God, and he used his power to protect and provide. This is the character of Christ, appearing centuries before Bethlehem.

The pattern of Christ

Peter, who had once drawn a sword in anger, later explained what Christ’s example means for those who suffer unjustly:

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.

Notice the last phrase: “committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” Jesus did not abandon justice. He entrusted it to the One who judges rightly, and that freed Him from the need to retaliate.

The forgiveness test

One of the clearest tests of Christian character is forgiveness. It is easy to say, “I believe in forgiveness.” It is much harder when someone has genuinely hurt us. We may say, “I forgive them, but I will never forget,” or, “They don’t deserve forgiveness,” or, “They must suffer for what they did.” Sometimes our pain is real. Sometimes the injustice is genuine. But Christ calls us beyond our natural response. He tells us:

Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Forgiveness does not mean pretending that evil did not happen. It does not mean refusing justice. It does not mean remaining in an abusive situation. It means refusing to allow another person’s sin to become the master of your heart. We surrender the right to personal vengeance to God. We choose not to nourish hatred. We choose not to become like the person who hurt us. That is character transformation.

We will return to this test in two later parts of the book: in Part Five, where we look at how we respond in the moment of being wronged, and in Part Seven, where we look at the character of forgiveness itself.

The question behind the question

When someone hurts us, the question is not merely, “What did they do to me?” There is another question: What is their behaviour trying to produce in me? Will their anger produce anger in me? Will their bitterness produce bitterness? Will their dishonesty make me dishonest? Will their cruelty make me cruel? Or will I allow Christ to respond through me? Paul sums up the choice:

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

That is where character becomes visible. The world teaches us to reflect what is done to us. Christ teaches us to reflect who He is. And that is perhaps one of the greatest differences between natural human behaviour and Christlike character.

A turning point

We have now established something important. Character matters. Sin has corrupted character. Religion alone cannot repair it. Good intentions cannot repair it. Rules cannot repair it. Self-discipline alone cannot repair it. Only Christ can. Therefore the next question becomes: How does Christ actually transform a human being? How does a selfish person become selfless? How does a bitter person learn to forgive? How does a proud person become humble? How does an impure heart become clean? How does a person who has spent a lifetime insisting on his own way learn to surrender?

The answer is not, “Try harder.” The answer is, “Abide in Christ.” Jesus said:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. … For without Me you can do nothing.

Christ is the source. Abiding in Him is the starting point for the next section.