Letters to young leaders: Character matters
I was introduced to the sermons of Robert Murray McCheyne early in my pastoral career. He was a Scottish pastor who only ministered for seven and half years before he died at the age of 29. However, the impact of his life and writings have endured through the decades. When he died there was letter found in his desk that no one had ever seen before. And in that letter the writer said this, “McCheyne, it wasn’t what you said in the pulpit that led me to Christ. It was nothing that you said that made me a Christian. It was rather the beauty of holiness which I saw in your face. I looked at your face and I had to become a Christian.”
We know what he was saying, Robert Murray McCheyne so exemplified the truth of the gospel in his life that the man was compelled to become a Christian too.
When Paul writes to the young leader Timothy in chapter two he stresses the importance of a Godly character. He encourages “men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands” and women to put on “good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” A little further in the letter Paul will tell Timothy to “set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.” (4:12) Paul knew that a leader’s character was of utmost importance if they were going to make an impact on the world for the kingdom of God.
Truly, isn’t that how we should be living our lives, so that we are living testimonies to the reality and power of Jesus Christ? When people look at us are they dazzled by the quality of our character, a character that is touched by and changed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Take some time today to read 1 Timothy 2 and ask yourself, “Am I living a life in which Christ is seen? Are my actions, the things I do with my hands (verse 8), seen as holy? Is my life adorned with the fashion of this world or with “good deeds” (verse 9,10) that reflect the God who saved me and is Lord of my life?
In thanksgiving for you,
Pastor Tom