Devotion

Good Character Costs
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ---Hebrews 12:11

Different types of promotions come at different costs. The costs may be time, travel, study, or money - something that you will have to invest and something you will have to give up for you to reach the mark. But a promotion of character comes with an additional cost factor, and without it we forfeit the promotion. Our character trait is inherent to that of Jesus Christ, and we must pay the cost of total surrender to Him to be able to develop the good character that identifies us as belonging to Him. Hatred, bitterness, frustration, selfishness, anger, ungratefulness, resentment, impatience, corruption, harshness, and anything else that is not produced in love - we cannot be a part of. Knowing the cost is one thing, and paying it is another because there will be times when we may find ourselves in situations where our wrong behaviors seem justified. Knowing what Jesus commands of us versus what our flesh wants to do in tough times is where our right decision will pay the cost, or our selfish decision will suffer us a loss. But don’t worry. Such times are meant to strengthen us, and if we really want the promotion in our character then we'll beat the challenge of our flesh to earn the prize. When we have the desire to surrender ourselves completely to the model of good character our Savior demonstrates towards us, we can earn a promotion to better shine His light of love in this world. Does your character shine a light of love? It is what the world needs most - today.