Character > Actions > Situations

A devotional for Wednesday

“As that old proverb says, ‘From evil people come evil deeds.’ So you can be sure I will never harm you.”
1 Samuel 24:13 (NLT)

It's easy to allow our circumstances to dictate our behavior. Someone hurts us, so we hurt them back. We're stressed, so we become impatient. We're afraid, so we try to control everything. We're treated unfairly, so we justify treating someone else unfairly. But David demonstrates another way. Saul's behavior didn't get to determine David's character. David's character determined his actions, even when the situation gave him every excuse to respond differently. That's what spiritual formation does. As the Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control increasingly become our default responses. We won't always get it right, but circumstances don't have to control us. God can form something deeper within us. And when character comes first, even the jungle can't determine who we become.

Question/Challenge:
Think about a difficult situation you're facing right now: is the situation shaping your response, or is your character in Christ shaping it?