In Proverbs 4:23 Solomon wrote,
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Guard your heart. Character matters and Solomon knew failing to guard your heart will lead you down one path of compromise after another. We have all been tempted to take the wrong path. There will always be choices that you know are right but you’re hesitant to make because the outcome might be painful, the consequences tough or the result unpleasant. You see, telling the truth when it hurts is the hard thing. Standing for what is right is going to end up costing you at some point in your life. It might even hurt someone you love. But reaching down deep inside your heart, where the root of your character is tethered to the soil of your soul, in order to muster the courage to make the right choice even when it hurts…well, that’s character. God says, “Guard your heart. Make sure you care about what is right. Make sure you care for the weak. Make sure you tell the truth.” Why? Because your character will help set the compass for the direction your life will take.

You’re not just making a choice: you’re determining a course. You’re not only making a decision: you’re choosing a destination. Sometimes we know what the right thing is, but it’s just plain hard to do it. If you break off that relationship, it will hurt. It may hurt you emotionally or it may disappoint someone else, but you already know it is the right thing to do. So why haven’t you done it? Most likely it’s because you know that it’s going to be hard.

Most people don’t want to do the hard thing. They just want to be happy. They want to do the easy thing. The bottom line is: the choices you make determine the course of your life. My character determines my course. Your character determines yours.

In Proverbs 4:18 Solomon wrote,
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

Have you ever been up at dawn when the first gleam of light is faint? It’s still pretty dark outside. You can’t see much. But as that first ray leaks over the horizon, you know that pretty soon the sun will be in the sky and you’ll see it all.

That’s what the path of the righteous is like. As you start down that path you can’t see how it’s all going to end up. Things are still pretty dark and still pretty foggy. There’s just a little light on the horizon. But if you choose to do what is right, God promises that eventually you’re going to be walking in the full light of day.

It’s the very path you’re choosing that will determine the very outcome you will experience. If you choose to do what is right, just like the sun gets brighter and brighter and brighter, your path will get brighter and brighter, and clearer and clearer. If you are a young person reading this book, you have some advantages on me. You can probably run faster than I can and have a whole lot more hair. But can I tell you one of the big advantages than I have? It is the same advantage that Solomon had. When you live enough years you can look back and see where certain paths have led. I can look back and see certain choices, the right choices, took me on paths that led me to blessed places. Just like the gleam of light at dawn, it got brighter and brighter. But it started with a small simple choice to do the right thing. I can also see where some choices led me down dark alleys where I didn’t want to go.

So here’s a fact. You’re not just making a decision. You’re choosing a destination. You will face some huge choices. You may be facing one now. Usually it isn’t the rightness or wrongness of a choice that makes it most difficult, it’s the hardness of it. Character is doing the right thing even when it’s the hard thing. If you do, God will lead you to the brightness of day.

William Rice is a Senior Pastor at Calvary Baptist Church. www.CalvaryBaptist.org