We Are Engraved for Good or Evil

Dan B. Allender, in his book Leading Character, notes that the Greek word “charaktér" was “used in connection with tools designed for engraving.” Greek philosophers noted that our past actions “engrave” themselves on us so that certain future actions are easier to do and others harder. When these tendencies are good, they are virtues. When they are bad, they are vices. Our character becomes our life-shape. This “engraving” should mark us, Allender urges,…