THE TEST OF CHARACTER

Trust is a very sensitive issue, and that’s the more reason why people often shy away from it most times. To trust someone 100% is certainly an issue open to discussion. The main trouble is not whether we should trust someone 100% or not, but rather, how can we tell when to give someone that 100% complete trust? It’s not a matter of preference, whether we should or shouldn’t trust completely, but a matter of knowledge, when to give away such level of trust. The aim of this article is not to tell whether one can ever trust someone 100% or not. My aim is to explain as best as I can how you can tell someone’s character to a certain extent by removing the protective shield placed on them by our physical presence. Before you can tell whether to trust someone 100% or not, it depends solely on the person’s character. Character is the foundation on which trust is built and developed. Hence, to trust or not to trust cannot be determined by someone else other than you, because character is not spoken or taught, it’s something you have to painstakingly find out yourself. Trust is earned and not given, so it’s your duty to ascertain whether a person is worthy of your trust 100% or not. This can only be known, when you can tell their true character.

The true test of a person’s character is revealed not in the absence of what they greatly fear, but rather in the presence of what they fear. The real nature of a person is known not when he is restricted from what is bad or evil, but when he decides and chooses to do good and what is right in spite of the evil he or she may find themselves. To fully comprehend the idea behind this statement, it’s important we talk a little bit about the true meaning of character.

How can we possibly know what a person can or cannot do if we deny them the opportunity to do and restrict them from the freedom of doing? If we so desire to know the true nature of people, we must then be prepared to take the risk of removing the limitations placed on them by our physical presence. For we can only know what we do not know about a person when we give them the freedom to reveal their real self. Until we can create the room for people to exercise their freedom, we will never be able to tell or know the limits of their actions. It is in freedom that a person’s real nature is fully expressed and revealed. Not in restriction.

For instance, how do you know if someone truly loves you if they have never been given a room to hate you? How do you tell whether your kids truly obey you; if they have never been in a position to disobey? People naturally will behave in a manner parallel to our expectations of them. We know the real nature of someone when we give room for doubt, that is, we have no form of expectation whatsoever from them. This is what God the creator did with mankind. He created us, showed us both good and evil and then gave us the freedom, choice, freewill, and liberty to choose whichever we preferred of the two. He never kept us away from the evil just because he wanted us to always do good; he let the two go together because only then would our true nature be revealed. You can’t be hiding evil from a person and think the person is a good person. A man’s character is only revealed when he is exposed to what he greatly fears.

This is the bottom line; until a person is actually given the freedom to exercise his or her choice completely, every other thing we think we know about that person is only an assumption. Until you are willing to let go, take the risk, embrace doubt, expect the unexpected by letting loose your lover, your kids, your workers, you will never know for sure what they are really capable of doing. The true knowledge of a person’s intention can only be known by removing all forms of restrictions that may hinder them from being tempted. Exposure to temptations is what truly reveals a person’s true nature. How would a man really know if his wife truly loves him and is faithful if he never allows her to be in the company of other men? How would a parent determine the extent at which they have gone in bringing up a child if they wouldn’t let the child out of their sight for once? How would I know what you could do with a gun if I never allowed you to come in contact with one?

Philip Yancey, author of Disappointment with God certainly was right when he said “a person can only learn obedience when tempted to disobey; can only learn courage when tempted to flee.” It’s only by exposure to temptation and not prevention from it that a person’s true character can be tested.