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Why Character Is Formed Over Time, Not Taught in a Moment

by Heather A. Ross, Christian educator & curriculum writer

About the Author

Teacher / parent assisting young child in learning

After over twenty years as a classroom teacher, I have had my share of moments when I pondered, "Is what I'm doing really making a difference?"

The fact is, we live and teach in moments of time.

We see today’s effort, today’s challenge, today’s unfinished work. And sometimes, we measure progress by what is visible now, often wondering whether character is truly taking shape beneath the surface.

However, Scripture invites us to see beyond the moment.

God reveals Himself as the I AM—the self-existent One, unbound by time. He is the God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, who sees the end from the beginning. While we walk with children through the daily work of formation, God holds the whole of a life in view at once.

This difference in perspective reshapes how we understand character. According to Scripture, character is rarely taught into existence in a single moment. It is formed patiently, purposefully, and over time—through obedience lived, faith tested, and trust strengthened.

This reflection is also available as a short video below: 



God Forms Character With the End in View

This eternal perspective helps us read the lives of Scripture more faithfully.

God does not show us character formed in isolation or in haste. Instead, He gives us lives unfolded across time—men and women shaped through endurance, obedience, and trust when outcomes were unclear and resolution distant.

Consider Job. His reverence for God did not begin with suffering, nor was it produced by explanation alone. It was tested and refined through loss he could not interpret and questions he could not answer. Job lived faithfully within the limits of what he could see, while God worked within a scope far beyond his understanding.

Or think of Joseph. His character was not established in the moment he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, but years earlier—through betrayal, confinement, forgotten promises, and steady faithfulness when advancement seemed impossible. Scripture allows us to trace a life shaped by integrity across seasons that only later revealed their purpose.

In both lives, God was not reacting to events as they unfolded. He was working with the end in view, forming men whose character could bear weight.

We Teach in the Present; God Works Across a Lifetime

This difference in perspective matters when we teach children.

We are often tempted to measure growth by immediacy—by quick understanding, visible diligence, or prompt change. But Scripture consistently shows us that character is not usually taught into existence. It is formed through repeated faithfulness lived out over time.

Children need instruction. They need truth spoken clearly. But they also need space to live with that truth—to practice responsibility, to return again and again to what is right, and to learn perseverance in ordinary tasks.

God does not hurry formation because He is not uncertain about the outcome. He knows what He is shaping.

Scripture Teaches Through Lives

One of the ways God helps us understand this process is through narrative.

Rather than giving us only principles, Scripture also offers us lives to observe, stories to read. We are invited to observe, to discern, and to judge according to God’s truth. We see faith tested, obedience practiced, repentance exercised, and mercy extended—often across many years.

Even when God uses simple illustrations, like the ant in Proverbs 6, He is inviting us to consider—to observe something living and active over time. The command is clear, but the picture lingers. Wisdom is learned not only by hearing, but by watching.

Trusting the Work God Is Doing

To teach character well requires humility—an acknowledgment that we see only part of the story.

When we remember that God is eternal, that He sees the whole of a life, and that He is actively at work in formation even when progress seems slow, we are freed from the pressure to force outcomes in the present.

Character is not absent while it is forming. It is being shaped.

And as we teach, guide, and model faithfulness—returning again and again to truth—we participate in a process God has been using since the beginning: forming men and women whose lives bear the marks of patient, enduring grace.


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