A Noble Character

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

A NOBLE CHARACTER

Acts 17:10-15

10 As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. 13 When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

NIV

Why are we told that the Bearans were of a more noble character than the Thessalonians? Interestingly, the Greek word translated as "noble" is eugenes. This is the base of our English word for human genes, or our genetic makeup, which could be defined as our character. There is a distinct difference between our personality and our character, in that our personality is what we show others, or who we are when we are with people, but our character is who we are when we are alone. This is who the Bearans were, and their character shone through in their personality and how they received the message with eagerness and examined the scriptures for themselves to verify what Paul said was true. This is a genuine way to know in one's own heart the truth about Jesus and the free gift of God, eternal life. It is good to hear the message, but unless we do our own research, searching the scriptures, we would only have what could be considered as hearsay. Just because someone tells us something, it does not mean it is true. Of course, we would hope that someone called to preach or shepherd God's people would exercise due diligence in the word of God, encouraging and strengthening them in their faith in Jesus. Of course, there are also those silver-tongued purveyors of deception that we need to be careful not to be drawn into their false teaching, much like the Jews who came to Berea, trying to stir up trouble for Paul. They did not have noble character, and it showed in their efforts to agitate others against Paul and his message. When people are like that, agitated, angry, and protest against the truth, that is the time to shake the dust off our feet and leave town, as Paul was sent to the coast, for his own safety from the protestors. However, we should glean the truth about having a noble character and how our inner self, the self who loves the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, the real us, should shine through our personality, loving each other. Let us live with that noble character.