Oct 14 2009
Character Defects
My parents are hot tempered. I could recall they yelled at each other a lot when I was just a kid. Now I have my own family, I felt ashamed that I’m also doing it to my wife, in front of my own daughter. My parents gave me the “DNA” of bad temper and stubbornness.
Then, there are circumstances that drive me to do the things I do. For a long time, my parents are “hands off” parents, and trusted me at the very young age to grow up by myself. It was a teenager’s dream! I learned from my friends, my sisters, and my uncles/aunts. The influence from my uncle led me to a bad relationship. The influences from my friends were into procrastination and sometimes college drinking binges. With my sisters, I just did all I could to be not like them!
I chose to follow my friends more because they were more fun. Peer pressure was a big influence in my life. I chose to accept that my temper was hereditary and there was nothing I could do about it. I chose to go with the moment, and followed fads or whatever was “cool” at the time.
The choices that I made had painful consequences. I became distant from my parents. I viewed relationships as something I must control myself. I often refused to know other people’s feelings. I was selfish. I paid for it in spades: lost relationships, lost time, and lost opportunities.
But I now know it doesn’t have to be this way. For God’s promises:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The key is Jesus! Put my faith in Him, I will be transformed. I don’t have to be of this world. I need to be part of God’s plan in heaven. I don’t have to be stuck with my bad choices. Jesus paid for my sins. With His grace and mercy, I’m forgiven. Now I have to let His will be done. God’s perfect character must shine in me, so I don’t have to show my defects.
