The Impact of Character

On November 26, Tiger Woods was on top of the world.  He was the most admired and recognized athlete in the world.  His abilities on the golf course along with his public persona made him so marketable that sponsors were clamoring to get him to endorse their products, making him the highest paid athlete in the world.  Forbes magazine had predicted that he would soon be the first athlete to pass $1 billion in earnings.  However, after a bizarre November 27 early morning auto accident in his own driveway, Tiger’s perch on top of the world began to unravel in an epic tailspin of events due to revelations that followed over the next few days regarding his infidelity to his wife and family.

The thing that struck me was the realization of how quickly a reputation can be damaged by a weakness of character.  Just like Tiger, many people spend cycles of time trying to hide their character and protect their reputation.  But ultimately, it will crumble because character will always be revealed at some point.  A man’s reputation is what other people think of him, but his character is what he really is.  It is our character, either good or bad, that causes others to accept or reject us.  Honesty, integrity, loyalty, sincerity, approachability, vulnerability….they all make up the whole of our character.

As parents we must protect our character if we expect our children to value and trust us.  Parents aren’t able to hide their character for long because our true character will always be exposed at sometime and it is our family who knows better than anyone what that character reflects.  Parents, your desire should be to reflect the image of Christ within your character, not the image of our depraved and scandalous world.  Parents need to live out Ephesians 5:1 “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.”

“Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses and avoids.”
— Aristotle, Greek philosopher

“A man’s character is his fate.”
— Heraclitus, Greek philosopher