Your Character, Perverted and Redeemed

[Read time: 19 minutes] Each of us has character strengths that make us effective in certain areas of life and weaknesses that create problems in virtually every area of life. We struggle with our problems, which seem so deeply embedded in our nature we might wonder whether it’s even possible to overcome them. In our frustration, we might resign ourselves to living with them and conclude that’s just the way we are.

This article provides a biblical perspective of your character – where it came from, how it became so messed up and what you can do about it. Stated simply, God blessed you with a perfect character that sin perverted, causing your greatest strengths to become your biggest problems. Since God’s plan of redemption is as comprehensive as the effects of sin, whatever sin has destroyed or perverted, He can save and restore. Therefore, God’s plan of redemption is relevant to your character.

From Perfection to Perversion

Everything God created was perfect in its original form. Sin perverted God’s design and plan, however, and this is evident in your personality. Sin perverts your character by making you self-centered, by taking your traits to extremes and by motivating you to use your abilities to gain control. Let us consider each of these perversions.

Self-Centeredness

After God finished creating the heavens and the earth, the plants, animals, and man, He looked at all He had made and saw that it was very good (Gen. 1:31). Creation was perfect. Mankind was perfect. Adam and Eve had complete authority over the earth and lived in a beautiful garden. They also had free will, the ability to choose whether to love and serve God. As you know, they chose not to.

They were free to eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden except one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16). However, when Eve looked at the tree, she saw that the fruit was “good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom” (Gen. 3:6). So she ate it and gave some to Adam, who was with her, and he ate it, too. By eating the fruit, they knowingly disobeyed God; it was not an innocent mistake. She became convinced that God was holding out on them by prohibiting them from eating something that would benefit them. The act of disobedience was a result of a more serious problem: self-centeredness; that is, pride, self-focus, or concern for her own well-being. Self-centeredness was the first sin and is the basis of all other sin. If you examine any sin, ultimately you will find it’s motivated by self-centeredness. The person believed the sinful act would benefit him, make him feel better about himself, or accomplish something he wants.

Eve was not the first to fall to self-centeredness. In fact, it was Satan in the form of a serpent who tempted Eve to be concerned about herself, and he was the first to fall. He originally was “the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (Ezek. 28:12, God speaking to Lucifer or Satan, who controlled the king of Tyre). He was a guardian cherub and walked in God’s presence on the holy mount (Ezek. 28:14), but he became proud due to his beauty and splendor (Ezek. 28:17). Isaiah reveals Satan’s motive to be that of self-exaltation and self-assertiveness. He intended to raise his throne above the stars of God, to sit enthroned on the sacred mountain and make himself like the Most High (Isa. 14:13-14). These were all expressions of self-centeredness or pride. It was this concern for self that he offered to Eve and she chose to assume responsibility for her own well-being rather than obey God. In each case, self-centeredness was the root of sin and it still is today.

Self-centeredness makes us more concerned about our own thoughts, opinions, feelings, and desires than those of other people. We easily ignore other people, automatically reject what they say, or treat them disrespectfully because of this bias. We defend, protect, and justify ourselves for the same reason. Our first reaction when we feel guilty is to blame someone else. That’s what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden and fallen human nature hasn’t changed since then.

Self-centeredness is such a natural part of human existence that we have trouble identifying it as a problem, yet it is the biggest problem we have.

One of the many ways self-centeredness perverts your character is through your sense of satisfaction. God designed you to experience fulfillment and satisfaction when you do well; this is part of God’s nature and He made you in His image. He intends for you to use your abilities to serve others and He gave you that sense of satisfaction so you will know when you have done well. Self-centeredness causes that good feeling to become your goal, however, and you do things primarily because they make you feel good. What God intended to be a reward or fringe benefit has become the goal. Since you are most effective and feel most fulfilled when using your natural aptitudes, self-centeredness causes you to use them for the good feelings they produce instead of the benefit they provide others. Sin has completely perverted God’s design. God intended for us to use our abilities to serve others, but sin motivates us to use our abilities to make ourselves feel good.

Another result of self-centeredness is what we frequently call projection. Most of us feel good about who we are and see value in our abilities. This causes us to feel that others should be like us, do things as we do, and think as we do. Projection essentially says, “I have value, so you should be like me.” Instead, what is easy and very natural for one person can be difficult or nearly impossible for others.

Projection also causes us to reject others who are not like us, resulting in prejudice in all its forms–prejudice between sexes, between races, between nationalities, between ideologies, and even between denominations. Prejudice is a direct result of self-centeredness and is a sin.

Extremes

Self-centeredness typically causes you to exaggerate your traits, taking them to extremes. Because using your spiritual gifts produces satisfaction and fulfillment–that is, makes you feel good–you really like using your gifts. This causes you to use your abilities even when it is inappropriate, or you do more than is necessary. The results you get make you feel good, and you like feeling good, so you keep producing the results. Ironically, this motivates you to act even when others prefer you did not and even if it causes them harm. You see value in your abilities and the results you produce, so it is very natural to want to do more. This form of perversion clearly is an expression of self-centeredness.

Not only do other people suffer from your misuse of your gifts, they may even consider it repulsive. For example, if your aptitudes include intercession–obviously a very beneficial ability and motivation–and you take intercession to an extreme, you may neglect your family and friends because you are so dedicated to your cause. This could even discourage them from helping others because they see what it does to you. Extremism is a problem for everyone involved.

Control

Self-centeredness makes you prefer your own opinion about how things ought to be and motivates you to make everything conform to your desire. You want to be in control of your life and your environment, and you use your aptitudes and other resources to gain control. Every one of us struggles for control. How you do it is as unique as your personality, but you impose your will on others and your environment.

Your combination of aptitudes and tendencies gives you a unique perspective. Self-centeredness convinces you that your perspective is best, and that others ought to go along with it. This causes conflict because everyone else prefers their perspective, too.

This is a major issue. You have a strong desire to be in control and when you lose control you begin to feel frustrated or vulnerable. You can see it happen. When a situation does not develop the way you want, you respond according to your personality. You begin using your special skills and abilities to bring the situation around to the way you think it should be. That is nothing more than your self-centered desire to control your environment.

Simple observation suggests that most people turn to God only when their lives are so out of control they are willing to do anything, even ask God for help. Even then it is usually a matter of accepting Jesus as Savior but not Lord. Having a savior means liberation from forces that threaten or oppress them. Having a lord means they no longer consider themselves sovereign and most people are unwilling to accept that. Some can readily turn their lives over to God, but most of us are very reluctant to do so. It can take years to make Jesus Lord of every part of one’s life because we fight continuously to maintain control.

These are three basic ways sin has perverted your character, causing your greatest strengths to become your biggest problems. These problems are hard–or nearly impossible–to overcome directly because they’re an essential part of who you are. In fact, an easy way to identify your strengths is to examine your problems. In most cases, the ultimate solution to your problem is not defeating the devil or receiving a greater blessing from God, but crucifying your sinful, ungodly attitudes and behavior.

The perversions of sin seem so natural to us we think they are normal and don’t even suspect life could be any other way. In fact, this is exactly the opposite of God’s plan. Your situation is not hopeless, however because God has already provided the remedy.

From Perversion to Perfection

As stated earlier, God’s plan of redemption is as comprehensive as the effects of sin. Whatever sin has destroyed or perverted, God can save and restore. Therefore, God’s plan of redemption is relevant to your character.

The word redemption has many shades of meaning and all are relevant to God’s plan of redemption. If you were to redeem an item, for example, you would do so because you recognize that it has more potential than it is currently experiencing. God redeems your character for the same reason.

Sin causes your character to dominate you. It forces you to satisfy its desires, rather than be available when you need it. This is the opposite of God’s intent and He will redeem your character with your cooperation.

Every human being, except Jesus, is or was a sinner. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but how you sin is different from how others do. Before we became Christians, we were inherently self-centered and that motivation remains, but each of us satisfies that desire differently. Sin is an intensely personal condition and so is its expression. We will discover that redemption also is unique to your character.

God created each person to be unique, considering the many possible combinations of character traits, motivations, life experiences and such. He doesn’t intend for us to be cookie-cutter Christians, with each new believer looking and behaving exactly like the others. So redemption looks a little different on each of us. The New Testament offers a variety of analogies to help us understand the various aspects of redemption. Each is relevant to every believer, but how a person applies each to his life is as unique as his character. For these reasons, we must consider the effects of sin and the effects of redemption on each character trait.

Following is a brief explanation of redemption analogies we will consider.

Putting on Important Traits

The New Testament frequently urges you to put off your sinful traits and replace them with godly character traits. Some scriptures use the analogy of taking off or putting on a garment. Other scriptures say to refrain from ungodly attitudes and behavior, but to practice godly ones. Since telling you to do something impossible would be pointless, these scriptures assume you can do what they say. This suggests you can make a deliberate, intelligent choice to put on important traits.

Sin has totally warped your character, turning it completely around from God’s intent. Because self-centeredness was the predominant characteristic of your former sinful nature, we can expect to find one or more godly traits that are the opposite of it, such as agape love. Self-centeredness is concern for personal well-being and agape is concern for the benefit of others that is willing to sacrifice self.

I suggest another godly trait is even more fundamental than agape: humility, an attitude that considers self relatively unimportant compared to God and others. You cannot consider others more important than yourself if you consider yourself most important. So I suggest humility is the basis for agape and is the predominant trait of godly character. Unless humility combats self-centeredness in your character, sin will pervert all other godly traits.

We find a representative list of godly character traits in Galatians 5:22-23, which we call the fruit of the Spirit. Examining other scriptures allows us to add other traits to our list. Following are the traits we consider in this study.

• Agape: considers others’ welfare, needs, interests, and desires more important than your own; motivates you to act for others’ benefit regardless of personal impact.
• Anger: hatred for every form of sin and its results.
• Brotherly kindness: acts of friendliness and helpfulness based on relationship such as family, friend, or associate.
• Desire for knowledge: seeking to know, an enquiry or investigation; recognizing and obtaining knowledge or understanding.
• Faith or faithfulness: firm conviction regarding something for which there is no proof; action based on such conviction.
• Goodness: action on another’s behalf, whether pleasant or unpleasant to them; motivates you to do what is best for others.
• Humility: considers self relatively unimportant compared to others; prevents using abilities for one’s own satisfaction.
• Joy: a sense of well-being, often despite circumstances; may be expressed as happiness, confidence, or optimism.
• Kindness: appropriate, mild, and pleasant behavior toward others; expressed in actions that meet another person’s need or desire.
• Meekness: gentleness; quality by which you accept another’s dealings with you as good, so you don’t dispute or resist; different from submission.
• Patience: self-restraint in the face of provocation, offense, or difficulty caused by other people; a tolerance of the intolerable.
• Peace: a state of well-being; an internal condition of completeness, order, and rest that supersedes external circumstances.
• Perseverance: patient endurance.
• Self-control: restraint; temperance; moderation in thought, action, or feeling.
• Zeal: intense eagerness to experience a desired result; intense emotion that compels action.

As we examine this list, we see that certain godly traits are especially important to certain aptitudes. All believers must develop humility and agape, but not necessarily all the other traits to use their aptitudes effectively. For example, anyone with the teaching aptitude must have a desire for knowledge; it is an essential trait for them. Others might function very well without this trait, but a teacher cannot. Therefore, when we examine the redemption of each aptitude, we will identify those godly traits that are especially important to it.

Repentance, Renewing Your Mind

Repentance literally is changing your mind–what you think–and includes your attitudes, perspective, values, priorities, and standards. It requires you to reprogram your mind to conform to the Bible. Without realizing it, we frustrate ourselves by trying to change our behavior while ignoring our attitudes. If instead we focus on repenting–changing the way we think–our behavior will follow.

God will help you make the necessary changes in the way you think, but this is primarily your responsibility. For each of your aptitudes, you must change your perspective of your role, why you are to use your abilities and what the results should be.

Because the predominant characteristic of human nature is self-centeredness, the biggest change we must make in our thinking involves honoring and serving others.

God created every human being in His image and sent His Son Jesus to die for all of humanity’s sins. This shows the value God places on every person, regardless of their spiritual condition. When we honor people, we honor God their Creator. When we offer the good news of the gospel to people, we honor the sacrifice Jesus made for them. When we protect and care for those in need, we honor God’s love for them and share His heart. Jesus said we’re to follow His example by being servants, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (see Matt. 20:26-28).

Ephesians 4:16 says the body of Christ, the community of believers, is to grow and build itself up in love, “as each part does its work.” So each of us is to use our unique abilities to serve other believers, helping them become more effective and spiritually mature.

Your life is not about you. It’s about using the character God gave you to serve people, draw nonbelievers to Christ, help other Christians, and promote their well-being in your unique way.

Denying and Humbling Yourself

Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). What does it mean for you to deny yourself?

Your specific aptitudes determine how you express self-centeredness–your concerns about yourself, how you assert yourself, how you struggle for control. When Jesus said you must deny yourself, He was referring to absolutely rejecting all self-centered motives. This might mean something different for each of your aptitudes.

You will deny yourself only if you consider yourself unimportant compared to God and others. Because humility and self-denial are closely related, we will consider them together. Denying and humbling yourself means rejecting your own desires and self-interests, and includes refusing to be motivated by a desire for recognition or credit for the results.

Taking up Your Cross

The cross was an instrument of torturous death. To you as a believer, it does not represent physical death as it did to Jesus, but death to the sinful mindset and behavior you developed as a sinner. Because your former sinful nature was primarily self-centered, you still want to protect yourself, assert yourself, justify your actions and opinions, glorify yourself, be self-sufficient, and excel where others fail.

According to the Bible, you must crucify your sinfulness–your flesh, your old self, your sinful mindset–and that means putting it to death. You cannot compromise with your sinful desires, and they will not demand less if you appease them occasionally. The only effective way to deal with your sinful desires, attitudes, and behavior is to totally reject them and embrace those situations that crucify them. A cross may be that which has potential for doing you great harm, threatens to break you down, or reveals your inadequacies. That is, a cross destroys what you naturally want to preserve, especially your pride. Your natural tendency is to avoid such situations, but Jesus said you must take up your cross; so accept it and embrace it.

You are likely to have several crosses during your lifetime, some short term and others long term, and each will be custom-designed to destroy a specific sinful attribute. Every believer will have opportunities to accept crosses, but not everyone will do it. Those who embrace their crosses will reap the benefits of defeating their sinful ways in at least certain areas of their lives and becoming increasingly like Jesus.

Your crosses are unique to your character, including your aptitudes. What is it that pushes your strengths to the limit? How often do you discover that your greatest ability is inadequate? Do you often face failure even in your area of expertise? These are the shapes of your crosses. Jesus said you are to take up those situations, accept them, and carry them until they have completed their work in your life, which is putting your sinful motivations to death. That process is unique for you.

The night before His crucifixion, Jesus agonized over what was ahead and asked the Father three times if there was another way. Yet He endured the cross and scorned its shame because He anticipated great joy at breaking sin’s control over mankind (Heb. 12:2). He scorned the shame of the cross. The Greek text does not say He hated the shame of the cross; rather, He was indifferent about it because it was of no consequence to Him. Likewise, you are to become indifferent to the shame of your “cross” experiences and look forward, instead, to the joy of defeating everything associated with your former sinful nature.

Following Jesus

Besides rejecting your old sinful motivations and embracing those situations that threaten to destroy them, you are to follow Jesus. To follow Him is to emulate Him, to behave as He would in your situation within the limits of your abilities. The Master teaches you how to use your skills and, as a disciple, you perform exactly as He shows you. As an heir to the kingdom, you conduct kingdom business in the King’s name, doing what He would do. To follow Jesus is to imitate Him in a manner appropriate to your God-given nature.

Becoming Like a Child

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3-4).

What qualities does a small child have that God wants you to develop? A child realizes he lacks important abilities and needs the help of an adult. He recognizes his dependence on adults to provide and care for him. He naturally trusts adults so he believes what they tell him and does what they say. The person who develops that kind of relationship with God is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, according to Jesus. How you become like a child is unique to your character.