Building a Bridge of Character

How God instills integrity into His children

By Ken Swett

Associate, Drumm Ministries

Dallas Texas

My grandmother lived in the backwoods of Missouri; it was a place untouched by modern civilization and where life continued in simple ways.  This remote area had no elaborate bridges, instead simple concrete slabs laid across the streams and brooks.  One of these slabs, on the boundary of her property, provided her only access for the road to town.

When I was a child, this bridge became endangered.  Rain caused severe flooding in this normally peaceful stream and debris had collected beneath the bridge. I recall my father and uncle climbing into the water to release the pressure before the bridge was damaged or washed away.  I watched them pull trash and other items from the water.  Finally, they removed the largest hindrance, a refrigerator that had washed down and wedged beneath the bridge.

The architect who had designed this bridge could not have expected an icebox would one day threaten the integrity of his plan.  He designed the bridge to handle his expectation of what storms would bring.  Unlike the bridge architect, when God, the master architect, created the blueprints for our character, He was well aware of the debris that would buffet our lives and challenge our integrity.

God has given each of us not only His written word, but also those secret words that He speaks to our heart.  His Spirit guides and leads us, and that gentle sweet voice brings revelation.  We, as the workmen, begin to build the bridge of our reputation from those soft impressions, and the deep revelations of His word. 

As we dig through His word we are excavating the soft soil searching for the rock solid foundation.  When we strike the fresh revelation we can hear the sound in our hearts so loud and clear that we know we have touched the very character of Christ.  The feeling is so unmistakable it affects us from that moment and we are changed for all eternity.

However, there are other times when we choose to ignore his blueprints.  Where His word commands that we let our “yes be yes and our no be no,” we still answer with a “maybe.”  Where His word commands that we do not lie, we often “bend the truth” so as to not offend our brother.  Instead of digging down to the true foundation we place our pylons on the false foundation of our own interpretations and experiences.  We base our lives not on His word but on secular guidelines.

Integrity is the strength and soundness of our total character.  One storm quickly tests integrity and reveals whether we found the foundation of Christ for each of the character traits we rest our my reputations upon.  The character traits that are based on the deep and abiding revelations of God’s character and personality are like solid steel and concrete pylons driven into solid stone.  If we have connected to Christ the support will hold firm;  those based on secular views and beliefs will wash out, leaving the bridge weakened and in danger of collapse.

Jesus would give His disciples revelation of His power and authority, and then deliberately send them sailing into a storm.  Jesus was testing the foundation of their understanding.  Had they gained the full revelation of the authority they had in His name or would the pylon break away because of fear or stress?

We have all been through storms where we discover as the disciples did, that we did not have a full revelation of His character.  We had not built our character completely upon God’s Word alone.  We had by mistake placed our strength in a false foundation, a false belief.  Though the bridge did not collapse, the damage was evident, and the need for repair immediate.  How beautiful though, when Christ stands in the midst of the storm and speaks softly, “Peace be still.”  It is in those moments that we can feel the injury to our reputation, but now the very hands of grace and mercy, support us as we begin to dig down to find the true foundation that will survive the next storm.

While His hands support, we fall down in prayer, allowing the Spirit to show us the mistake in our character.  Most often His gentle voice reminds us of the revelation He had shown, a revelation of honesty, or faithfulness or gentleness.  However, when we placed the character trait in our lives, we stopped just inches from the full sacrifice that was needed.  We keep just a little bit of clay between us, a little bit of our flesh.  That small amount of clay was what gave way under the pressure and caused our foundation to shift.  As the storms of life buffet us, we often watch as the pylons thought trust worthy wash away.  Disappointments give birth to repentance, and we gain the determination needed to insure nothing will stop us from reaching the foundation this time.

It never fails that once I have chosen to connect a new Godly character trait to my life a storm will form on the horizon.  I think back to the flood that filled my grandmother’s creek.  The items that buffeted the bridge were from a dump miles away, debris from her past and garbage from her family, neighbors and friends.

Just like the flood, it can be things from our own past that can come against us and challenge our integrity.  Sometimes it will be our very family who will challenge our integrity.  Job’s own wife, the one God appointed to help encourage and strengthen him, was the one who instead advised him to abandon his character and instead care for his flesh. 

When storms come, we, unlike bridges, can be tempted to disconnect from the pylons we have poured, even the pylons driven deeply into foundation of Christ.  During severe storms the intimate revelations from the Holy Spirit can be suddenly lost, if the connecting pins of love and trust give way. 

The enemy will search for the weakest point connecting your reputation to the Character of Christ.  If he can not shake the revelation you have of Godly character, he will instead turn his attention to the connecting pins of love and devotion.  He will buffet you with winds, whispering lies that God has abandoned you.  He will try to make you let go of your revelations because your revelations are too soundly driven into God’s character.

The name “El Shaddai” - Almighty God, is used forty-eight times in the Bible.  Thirty-one of those times it is used in the book of Job.  Job had a revelation of God’s character unlike anyone else in his day.  His revelation was so strong that even in the midst of his trial he declared his God’s character as “Almighty.”  His revelation of God was so firm, that it could not be shaken; not even his wife could challenge his revelation, instead she provoked him to simply let it go.  Integrity compels us to trust God and His love for us, to cling to our revelation of Him, knowing that his ways are true and we can stand firm in our trials.

We gain Godly character through the revelations of His personality and love.  When we choose to separate our flesh, emotions and ideas from the revelations of God, we are able to drive our character into the foundation of Christ.  It is only then that true solid character is born.

Integrity is gained through our storms.  The storms first test our revelations.  Do we truly have the Rock as our foundation?  Do we have the strength of God anchoring our character as things smash against us?  If the foundation is sound, the storm will try to tear at our love and trust in Him.

Praise be to God! Whether I stand firm or fail, He still stands with me.  If I become battered, He climbs into my storm to release the pressure before it destroys me, and   when I weather the storm I can expect the comforting “well done.”  As life moves on, I will gain fresh revelation and new pylons will be drilled; then a new storm will test me, with new glory to come.  All that I may be more like Him.