There are persons we meet who seem to be magnetic. They draw others to them, seemingly without effort. Sometimes we call this force personality. I have known a number of these persons, for good and ill, for truth or fiction, for depths or shallows. But, we do not judge a force as a value in itself in the way it is used or manipulated. We like to think about the force itself in the right context, so to understand it and become wary when the context is warning us of misplacement. It is too meaningful in the course of human experience to be ignored – not to be known and understood. It is found in shallow celebrities and in the most profound and substantive persons. We do not judge the benefits of a course by its violators.
Human history is taken by magnetic personages like John Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, and the list lengthens for every generation. It is found in some actors and business persons, in some laborers at mills and on farms, in some educators, clergy and officers of the military. So the story goes. Even so, relatively few persons have that personality force – a magnetism that makes them seem right to mesmerized persons, even when they are wrong. It is meant as a gift for good, but as any gift for good it can be distorted, and mislead both the person having it and those affected by it. Many shy, quiet, perhaps introverted persons, and even extroverted, are sometimes offended by the factor. The enemies of personality are many. Nevertheless, when that personality factor is present, in persons with ideals for the good of others, it becomes important, sometimes vital, in success for them and their cause. It is generally assumed that the benefits of personality exceed the debits. That is uncertain when the context of problems doesn’t need personality.
This personality feature that we have all observed in human nature, accented by those persons with a larger dose of it than most, can teach us something about mankind and God. The substantive parables of humanity and earth are many, and we make too little of them in understanding the mysteries of the reflection of the immortal in the mortal. We will not succeed in the divine challenge to know as given in the Eden Garden, without joining the mystery to the processes of nature. Why, when something has been researched, and proven by evidence as truth, there continues fumbling, argument, differences, and abortive actions? Unity is needed, confidence and trust, and the needed feelings spill over to inspire us forward. The evidence pushes us: the feelings motivate us. Both may be needed for timely response.
King David had personality. Persons genuinely liked him. They invited him to be king. That was a democratic move for the people. They had followed Saul, but they came to revere David. They could even forgive his errors, serious breaking of Mosaic Law believed to be divine. The factor is related to our sense of worship, an unexplained feeling that some others are better than we, that the person has a special meaning to belief and feelings, carrying personality with consideration for all. God is so lovable, that we can accept whatever we do not understand about him. This tendency is partly illustrated in the American maintenance of popularity for former presidents like Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy, and Reagan.
God is known in loving personality. The factors of his nature are noted in the Bible related to concern, to love, to truth, to acceptance of all persons, to plans for the relief of deprivation and death, to making persons feel worthy of a better situation than pertains – forgiveness, in context, overpowers human failures. God’s personality to us is as a friend, trying to help us through the malaise of human life. Jesus made clear to his disciples that he was their friend. Only persons not accepting Christ of God have reason for fear about his ministrations. God is our mentor. He must be true to himself. Truth is a compelling factor in his nature. God offers evaluation related to substance, not personality or likeableness, but on the facts of God’s redemptive plan and word. Our concern is not to conclude about the way some attractive human genius might address the matter of life’s transitions, but to discover and apply the order of God for benefit. It is folly to tell God how he should manage his creation – but engagement invites blessing. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020