Character Development

character development according to the Bible involves the intentional growth of virtues and qualities that reflect God's nature and promote love, righteousness, and moral uprightness. It calls for a transformation of the heart and mind, influenced by a personal relationship with God and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

1. Bible:

• Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
• Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

• "True character is not shaped from without, and put on; it radiates from within." (Education, p. 225)
• "Character building is the most important work ever entrusted to human beings." (Education, p. 225)
• "A character formed according to the divine likeness is the only treasure that we can take from this world to the next." (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 332)
• "A knowledge of the truth depends not so much upon strength of intellect as upon pureness of purpose, the simplicity of an earnest, dependent faith." (The Desire of Ages, p. 459).

Bible:

1. Proverbs 16:32 - "Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city."
2. James 1:4 - "Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
3. 2 Peter 1:5-7 - "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love."

Ellen G. White: Spirit of Prophecy

1. "Character building is the most important work ever entrusted to human beings." (Education, p. 225)

In every generation and in every land the true foundation and pattern for character building have been the same. The divine law, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; ... and thy neighbor as thyself” (Luke 10:27), the great principle made manifest in the character and life of our Saviour, is the only secure foundation and the only sure guide.
“The stability of thy times and the strength of thy happiness shall be wisdom and knowledge” (Isaiah 33:6, Leeser's translation)—that wisdom and knowledge which God's word alone can impart. . Ed 228.4-Ed 229.1

2. "A knowledge of the truth depends not so much upon strength of intellect as upon pureness of purpose, the simplicity of an earnest, dependent faith." (The Desire of Ages, p. 459)

3. "The work of character-building demands patient effort, quiet and persevering." (The Series of Four, p. 17)

4. "All true obedience comes from the heart." (Education, p. 57)

5. "We can have a complete whole only as we have the love of God in the soul. The grace of God alone can change the heart, and without this change, no man can be holy." (Messages to Young People, p. 101)

The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.

But such a character is not the result of accident; it is not due to special favors or endowments of Providence. A noble character is the result of self-discipline, of the subjection of the lower to the higher nature—the surrender of self for the service of love to God and man.

The youth need to be impressed with the truth that their endowments are not their own. Strength, time, intellect, are but lent treasures. They belong to God, and it should be the resolve of every youth to put them to the highest use. He is a branch, from which God expects fruit; a steward, whose capital must yield increase; a light, to illuminate the world's darkness. . Ed 57.3-Ed 57.5