I am two weeks into the study of Esther and I have deduced a couple of things from just the first chapter. The first thing I've discovered is that it isn't a person's spiritual beliefs or particular status in life that determines whether or not you win favor with others... It is mostly our Character of person... Your Character will shine through regardless of your position or status. It doesn't matter whether you are the leader or a follower... Integrity, accountability, and constancy is the thing that makes up the character of a person. You can't buy character... you can't pretend to have character... you can't hide behind character... It is the essence of you... If you have good character, that is what comes out. If you have bad character... that is also as obvious...
Esther Chapter 1 starts off with Anger, Pride, and Arrogance being displayed by the King of Persia...I'd like to suggest that anger, pride and arrogance are not character traits... They are emotional expressions displayed during situational experiences... The character trait would be identified as inconsistency, rash, and self-serving... these "traits" are not emotional outbursts... these underlying traits are what make up the person's character...What is on the inside of us will be evident in the way we live. The Bible clearly states in Galatians 5 what life without Character looks like. I encourage you to read it.
But Esther Chapter 2 introduces a new character trait... Beautiful, lovely, spirit-led, good... And it states that she "impressed Heggai and won favor with him"... How does one "Win Favor"... It doesn't go into detail as to how she won his favor... It doesn't say that she "tried" to win his favor... It doesn't say even what she did that was so impressive to him... So it leaves the door open to speculation as to what a person should do to win favor with those in authority over them... I would speculate that the only thing she did was demonstrate the strength of character that people without it look upon with longing and wish they had... She was a person of integrity... she did what she said she would do and didn't do what she shouldn't... She was accountable... She had maids and those in authority who watched every move and she was constant... What is that you ask? She didn't waffle from one decision to another... she stayed the same... she stood her ground... she was stable... The bible says in James 1:8 A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways... If you talk out of both sides of your mouth, you lose credibility... You slack a little in the integrity department... You aren't constant...
If you aren't a person of good character.... You can be... It starts with an internal decision to plant the seed of goodness in your heart. Ask the Lord Jesus to take over and recondition your character traits... A changed life on the inside will demonstrate good fruit on the outside... Go back to Galatians 5:22... the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, long suffering, and self control... These are the traits of good character.
I'm being changed by the renewing of my mind... daily...
Lea Anne
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