Character or Compromise?

How a leader acts with the circumstances of work life will tell you many things about their character. Adversity & crisis have a powerful way of allowing us to choose one of two paths: either character or compromise.

When we choose the path of character, we will grow stronger even if it is a more difficult path. Character is the foundation of how a leader builds their life, it reflects their core values, their moral excellence, their firmness in what they believe.

Being a person of faith along with many reading this blog, we believe in Jesus and the Gospels. We desire to follow God’s will and His ways – we desire to be right with God and we are because of Jesus. We are Christians and we must remain rooted and bold for our God – bringing Him all the glory!

“May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation – the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ – for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”

Philippians 1:11

Leading well does begin with influence and reflects our character, we lead from what is on the inside and it is almost impossible to “fake it” until we “make it” when it comes to righteous character. Being “fake” in our faith is a path of compromise and is not genuine. We need a heart for God to genuinely reflect His character. We all need to stop being fake and start being genuine – we need to build a connection with our God because His love flows freely to His children.

“…For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Romans 5:5

In the Old Testament, the Book of Daniel shows us what faith and genuine character look like in a time of major crisis. The crazy thing is that King Nebuchadnezzar ended up appointing Daniel (a captive slave) to the Kings court with a very high position ruling over all of Babylon and gave him many valuable gifts.

Why? Well…Daniel’s character was not up for compromise! It reflected truth and trust for our God which resulted in responsibilities and gain even in a crisis. Compromise was no where to be found in the life of Daniel. Right living is more than simply avoiding sin. He respected his earthly authority and then lifted our God even higher – God came first!!

Imagine being Daniel…he has been taken captive in a foreign land and told what to eat, when to sleep, what to read, how to basically live…but he refused to give up on God and kept praying. He was faithful.

This!!!! Phew!!! You all…I want to have faith in God like Daniel did – to walk in this type of faith everyday and especially in times of crisis. #goal

Daniel had strong unwavering faith when it came to his relationship with God and lived a disciplined life with personal commitment to our Father. He refused to give up His faith and God had his back! #lionden

We encourage you through Daniel’s story to not give up on God when a problem comes your way, even if it is a major crisis – like a lion den moment! In times of crisis our true righteous character is revealed. Our core faith values come out when we are under pressure.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” Romans 5:3-4

We as Christian women in the workplace who lead with influence, we must commit to always do the right thing even when problems and trials come our way. This is character building at its best!! This strengthens our faith and brings God glory.

Think about this…we have not been taken captive to a foreign land and told what to eat, drink, and read – rather WE are FREE God fearing American women! But so may of us refuse to be bold for God at work, we compromise, we just keep to ourselves or we follow the secular world ways. We don’t want to make a wave for what we believe, so we cover up our godly character with silence and even compromise.

Well… let’s get more BOLD for our God and stir up the waters of our faith – make a wave or two for God!! We are free to choose our genuine character and God’s ways when we lead and make decisions. Worst case scenario when we choose God…we lose our job because we refuse to take the path of compromise, but guess what…God will provide us another one!! We trust and believe He is our provider. We are for our God no matter what, even in a time of crisis, even when there is a problem, even in trials, even when many are not for Him, we must stand firm!

Do not compromise my friends. Be like Daniel! Let your actions reflect your character through your faith. We should pursue excellence in Christian living with as much effort as we pursue excellence at work!