What do you do without having to think about it? That is, what sort of behaviors, responses, habits, thoughts, or words flow naturally in and through your life without you having to consciously consider them? The way we answer that question leads us straight down into a foundational part of our humanity: our character. It’s the thing we don’t have to decide about because it’s already formed within us. It’s the identity that ignites the rest of who we are and how we live. Character is, as the Greek philosopher Heraclites once put it, our fate: the person we ultimately become, through the joys and griefs of our lives, always begins and ends with the forging of our inner beings. The scriptures, and Jesus Himself, have always articulated this to us, writing of a God who “looks on the heart” (1 Samuel Sermon Resources:1. “The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to feel important.” -John Dewey2. "UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...and Why It Matters," by David Kinnaman3. Stats on the great church exodus: https://www.keylife.org/articles/the-great-dechurching-what-is-at-stake/4. “Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude.” -Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost For His Highest"5. “Symptoms of depression and feelings of insecurity, inferiority, and fear of failure are the hallmarks of a late modern society” where people have become “entrepreneurs of self.” -Byung-Chul Han, "The Burnout Society"6. “When we are who we are called to be, we will set the world ablaze.” -Catherine of Siena