"I am and I change not" - True Character

In my previous post Similar Verses in Bible and Chinese Classics 3 On The Golden Rule of Love, we talk about "Love your enemy" and "being faithful even when others are not".

How could we do that?

1. Loving the one that betrayed you.
2. Being faithful when the other is unfaithful.

The secret is revealed in the 2nd part of the verse

• 2Ti 2:13  if we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself.

Because God is love and God is faithful, he cannot act otherwise. True character is not changed by external things. It does don't change because others do something bad to him. The common saying that a tiger does not loose its stripes.

God's name is the "Great I AM" and Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Jesus does not love us less because we sin. Nor does he loves us more because we do good. Our goodness or badness have impact on us and not on God's love for us.

Our reactions then to external circumstances and to the things that our 'friends' do to us is a measure of our character. What are we made of? Of the old life of selfishness and self-centeredness or the new life and identify of Jesus Christ? This the degree of maturity with Christ likeness as the reference standard. We can look at it from the negative side - how we react to bad situations. We can also look at it from the positive side - how we behave when we are successful and wealthy. Will we be led astray to think that we achieve it and become arrogant and proud? Or will we live with a grateful heart and manage the success and wealth wisely as God's good stewards? According to the Parable of the Sower, it seems richness is a bigger test than persecution.

The key lesson we want to learn from this

Be true to our new identity in Christ and act accordingly from it.
Be not influenced by what happened to us to cause us to react outside of our character.

Loving our betrayer and being faithful are our Christ-like character and are only natural for us to behave that way.

(note: Truth, Righteousness and Justice are also Christ's character. We love the man in the sinner and not the act of the sinner. There is the need to point out and correct with love. Love is not without justice, truth and righteousness).