A friend sent me this quote yesterday. While I don’t usually turn to Johnny Depp for wisdom, he said a mouthful in a recent Larry King Special.
Money doesn’t change anybody, it reveals them. Same with success.”
I know it often looks to us like people change whenever they come into money or some measure of success, but perhaps he is right. I like to think character (or the lack of it) runs deeper than our circumstances. So if people become arrogant, deceitful, or unfaithful when their circumstances in life change, maybe that’s who they truly were before. They just didn’t have the opportunity to show it.
Certainly money and success present people with very different options than they had before and that’s why it is often more a trap than a blessing. I think character is best displayed by how we’re willing to treat people when we most think we are right. If we are less than loving, gracious, or self-sacrificing in such moments, it only shows us there is more work to be done by the only one that can shape our character—-Jesus himself!
And didn’t he say that if someone is faithful with something small, they will continue to be faithful when they have more. In the end, our character really does matter more than our circumstances!
I’ve thought the same about getting older–it seems as if your personality and character are enhanced, for good or bad, as you age. I want to be a loving, encouraging granny someday! Maybe this sounds crazy, from my thirty-something perspective, but I’ve visited in enough nursing homes to know who I’d like to be like when I’m their age. You can see Jesus shining from their faces and feel His wisdom seeping from their pores.
I’ve thought the same about getting older–it seems as if your personality and character are enhanced, for good or bad, as you age. I want to be a loving, encouraging granny someday! Maybe this sounds crazy, from my thirty-something perspective, but I’ve visited in enough nursing homes to know who I’d like to be like when I’m their age. You can see Jesus shining from their faces and feel His wisdom seeping from their pores.