Developing 39 Godly Traits

Thirty Nine Balanced Characteristics of Godliness (I Tim 6:6-8)

"There is an immense profit for godlienss accompandied with contentment (that contentment which is a sense of inward sufficiency). This is great and abundant gain. For we brought nothing into the world and it is certain we can carry nothing out... But those who crave to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish (useless, godless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction and miserable perishing." (I Tim 6:6-8)

Illustration: Character Endures

Fame is a vapor,

Popularity an accident.

Riches take wings.

Only one thing endures,

Character.

- Horace Greely

Illustration: Character Killers

1. Self-centeredness.

2. Distorting the gospel to serve your agenda .

3. Using your verbal skills to control others.

4. Appetite for power and possessions.

5. Immorality.

David Burnham, Discoveries, V. 3, No. 1

Illustration: Character is simply long habit continued. - Plutarch

Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we take with us. - Humboldt

Character is not made in crisis—it is only exhibited. - Freeman

We do not need more knowledge, we need more character! - Calvin Coolidge

Character is what you are in the dark. - D.L. Moody

Character is a by-product; it is produced in the great manufacture of daily duty. - Woodrow Wilson

Character is much easier kept than recovered. - T. Paine

The best index to a person’s character is (a) how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can’t fight back. - Abigail Van Buren

The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

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1. Be Accountable without getting hung up on doing things right and forgetting to do right things

2. Be Alert, but do not be quick to criticize, doubt or presume something missing without first looking for the silver cloud behind every dark cloud in situations and people.

Illustration: Character Not Comfort

God is more concerned about our character than our comfort. His goal is not to pamper us physically but to perfect us spiritually. - Paul W. Powell

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3. Be All Things to All Men to win some without being insecure about your own identity, personality, outlook, convictions, experiences, callings, culture, genetics, ideas or background.

Everything You Need to Know

Six ways to learn everything you ever need to know about a man before you decide to marry him:

1. Watch him drive in heavy traffic.

2. Play tennis with him.

3. Listen to him talk to his mother when he doesn’t know you’re listening.

4. See how he treats those who serve him (waiters, maids).

5. Notice what he’s willing to spend his money to buy.

6. Look at his friends. And if you still can’t make up your mind, then look at his shoes. A man who keeps his shoes in good repair generally tends to the rest of his life too.

Lois Wyse, Good Housekeeping, April 1985

Illustration:

4. Be Amiable, but do not be so socially concerned that you become a man pleaser willing to do whatever it takes for people to like you.

5. Be Analytical with becoming too wrapped up in details and problems in situations or people.

6 Aspire to Greatness, but do not pursue only selfish ambitions that involve dirty politicizing.

7. Be Balanced without lacking hard convictions to do what is right even when it is unpopular.

8. Be Bold without being over-bearing, pushy or insisting on your own way.

9. Be Compassionate, but do not be overly sympathetic, empathetic, or gullible.

Illustration: Mistakes in Hiring

W. Michael Blumenthal, chairman of Unisys, talks about the mistakes he made in hiring: In choosing people for top positions, you have to try to make sure they have a clear sense of what is right and wrong, a willingness to be truthful, the courage to say what they think and to do what they think is right, even if the politics militate against that. This is the quality that should really be at the top. I was too often impressed by the intelligence and substantive knowledge of an individual and did not always pay enough attention to the question of how honest, courageous and good a person the individual really was.

Jerry Flint, in Forbes

10. Be Confident, but do not become arrogant, high minded, and conceited.

11. Be Contextual without being inappropriate, compromising or lacking in relevance to reality.

12. Be Cooperative, but do not resort to conniving, intrigue, or under-handed tactics.

13. Be Courageous, but do not become a loose canon that shouts ones mouth off whenever you become irritated. Do not let subjective moods cloud your sense of objective purposes and processes