Good character is doing the right thing at all times, even when no one is watching (Dr. Christine Van Horn).
A person of good character has specific attributes that makes them function like they do. These people make a real effort to do the right thing all the time. Let’s take a look at these attributes and explore what they mean. This will help us better understand how a person of good character acts.
Persons of good character have internal standards
This means they make an internal decision to hold themselves accountable to standards in specific areas in their lives. It is a decision that they make for themselves and are their own judge regarding how they act. This is a powerful attribute. They hold themselves to their internal standards.
They make the effort to do the right thing
They are not seeing if they can do something without getting caught. They take the actions they need to ensure so they do the right thing no matter if anyone is around or not. Then they are consistent in their actions. They are the same in all circumstances. They may not always succeed, but they make the effort to do so.
They act the same whether anyone is watching or not
When they act the same in specific situations, it does not matter if anyone is watching or not. Their actions are consistent good actions. This makes them a more solid person and others come to know and understand their consistency and what to expect of them.
They are self-correctors
If they fail in a specific area where they have standards, they know how to self-correct. They do not wait for others to correct them if they fail or get caught. They step up to the plate and correct themselves. Sometimes it may be in the form of talking to others about the error they made. But most often, it is part of the internal standards they have set for themselves and the effort to always do the right thing. Then they make changes to ensure they do this action correctly the next time.
They practice endurance
Endurance means that you keep doing something even when it is not easy to do so. It may not always be easy to do the right thing – but you keep on that course of action anyway. Practicing endurance helps other areas of life too. An athlete needs to practice endurance and keep doing something until the goals of that physical activity are met. Endurance in the realm of school studies also applies. A specific course may not always be easy, but a person of endurance continues on no matter how difficult it is until that subject is mastered.
They are respectful of others
People of good character are respectful of others. Their own desires do not come first; they think of others according to the needs of that other person. Being respectful means that consideration is given to the other person. The person showing respect is polite, courteous, kind and is generally nice to others.
They practice self-control
Persons of character practice self-control. What is self-control? It means that they hold their emotions and actions in check and are not reactionary. They wait, take a deep breath and think through what happened and about their response. They do not take a negative action when they get angry. Two negatives do not make a positive. They hold themselves back from rapidly acting in a negative manner and stop and think through the implications of their own actions in response to a negative event or negative words spoken over them.
A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls (Proverbs 25:28 NLT).