Honor and Sword: All Grown Up: Character and Fencing for the Young at Heart

Character is without a doubt in rapid decline in our society. It is in rapid decline in Christianity. We, as a people, have begun to live for the "self." We see this in commercials and slogans that declare we should do what we want because "you deserve it." Our bookshelves are lined with books that tell us we should work on our self esteem and thereby we will interact better with others, as if focusing on ourselves will somehow magically cause a shift that causes us to care more about others. I pose the question: whatever happened to the ideal of laying down our lives? When did the formation of character shift from the teachings of the One who loves us and lay down His own life an example to the strange idea that going after what makes us happy will somehow make us better at loving? I submit to you that character does still matter. That the teachings of Scripture are to actually be lived out practically and not merely "understood." And I adjure us all, as adults, that we need to be the ones setting the example. We must be living the very same lives that we expect the young ones around us to live. To quote my friend Kelly, "if it's not something I would say in front of a child then it's not something I should be saying at all." Amen.