Have you ever seen a beautiful woman or man who behaves like the least decent being on earth? When you meet such a person, you are likely to say something like: “he/she is beautiful… BUT he/she lies too much… BUT he/she steals… BUT he/she gets angry too much, etc… My brother, my sister, what evil manners make people talk about you with a BUT? And the truth is that evil manners can be hiding an character within us. You see, we all are made in the image of God. Therefore our character should display the attributes of God’s character: He is truthful, faithful, good, loving, graceful, patient, holy, peaceful, glory-filled… You see, all of us have different characters, some good and some bad, that develop to worsen or to improve as we grow, depending on our family, socio-economical backgrounds or different reasons! Yet the Lord is asking us to come to Him the way we are and above all to humble ourselves for Him to make us become great in His Kingdom (Matthew 18:4). The problem with many people is that they try to change their evil character by their own means before they come or decide to follow the Lord! My friend, “a house divided against itself cannot stand” (Mark 3:25), in order words, whatever trait of character you have that is not pleasing to God is pleasing to Satan, and you have no strength to get rid of it without Jesus in your life. Let me clarify this: a drunkard cannot stop drinking just like that. But, by following the rules of Christ and constantly praying for His help and regularly reading the Word that tells us that our body is the temple of God, this drunkard will gradually start realizing that they are polluting the temple of God. As, they grow in their walk with God, their fear of God will also bring them to avoid harming their own body as they realize God how much God loves them and wants them different… Why? Because the Spirit of God will actually be helping them from within. But for this to happen, we have to accept Jesus Christ first, then start following His rules before His Spirit can start working in us to get any evil character to depart from us. Now, the sad thing we see in our churches today is that many believers who have already accepted Christ persist with evil manners brought from the world. This is because, after accepting Christ, they have not allowed the Spirit of God to change them from inside. And most of them will be following Christ only for His blessings. My friend, let me remind you that the Bible says God wants us to prosper (physically, materially, etc.) AS our soul prospers (3 John 1:2). In order words, there blessings t your door that are only waiting for you to start prospering from within! Yes, the Bible also says: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body” (Ephesians 4:22-25). What does this mean to a Christian? If you have followed Christ and still living in adultery or fornication, living a corrupt life of lies or pretense, if you are still filled with jealousy, resentment, anger or bitterness… the Spirit of God has not yet worked in you to transform you with His own fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). Also, always keep in mind that even though you have accepted Christ and attending church every day, the Bible says “do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?” because God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and His Word will not change to be adapted to your wrongdoing. So This should bring you why the Bible says: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). In other words, your evil character can only change when you allow the Spirit of God in you to start changing you. Stay blessed in Jesus’ name. [facebook] [retweet]