The opposite of genuine is false. He who pretends is not genuine. Genuineness forms one’s foundation and base. A person who is not genuine is baseless and cannot be entrusted with great responsibilities. Genuineness in character is the ability to sacrifice for others. Merely to be an honest person is not sufficient; one must be genuine. One who is not genuine may be welcomed by others initially, but the welcome will not last. Over time, it is genuineness which gains people’s hearts. To inspire others’ confidence, one must possess a genuine character.
Most people are loose; few are truly exact. One who is punctual does not procrastinate. One who is accurate in his words is dependable, and one who is precise in his work is trustworthy. Rare and precious is a person who is perfectly accurate.
Genuineness and tightness make up exactness, which in turn is manifested in strictness. Looseness leads to inaccuracy; he who is exact is always strict. The secret to a punctual person is his strictness. Only by being strict can one be genuine and exact.
Few people are diligent; most prefer leisure to labor. Once a person becomes lazy, he can accomplish nothing. Romans 12:11 says, “Not slothful in zeal,” and Proverbs 6:6 says, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” Why do laziness, gluttony, and sleep go together (Titus 1:12)? It is because all lazy people pity and love themselves, and thus naturally love to eat and sleep. However, 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says, “If anyone does not want to work, neither let him eat.”
All four points mentioned above are related to dealing severely with oneself.
It is easy for one who possesses the foregoing character traits to become narrow. He must therefore pay attention to having a “broad” character. The Chinese language uses an expression meaning “ocean” to illustrate a person’s capacity to be as large as the ocean. “And God gave Solomon...largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore” (1 Kings 4:29). Since sand encompasses the sea, the biblical requirement concerning broadness is greater than that conveyed by the Chinese expression. The impact of a person’s life-work has much to do with his being either broad or small. A petty person can never accomplish great things.
A person with a broad capacity often fails to be fine, leading to negligence and inevitable loss. One ought to be broad but not rough, fine but not small.
To be stable is to be solid and not easily moved, not panicky, hasty, or anxious. Stability, however, differs from slowness. Being slow means not acting when there is time to act, while being stable means allowing time to do its work. A stable person does not make decisions lightly or carelessly, nor does he easily praise or condemn others. When a situation is not entirely clear to him, he stops and does not speak or express his opinions carelessly. Neither does he proceed casually in matters that are serious, uncertain, or incomprehensible. Paul, a stable person, said to the Corinthians, “Our word toward you is not yes and no” (2 Cor. 1:18).
Patience here does not refer to endurance but to the ability to wait, as mentioned in James 5:7, “The farmer awaits the precious fruit of the earth.” Patience differs from slowness. To be slow is to miss a present opportunity, whereas to be patient is to anticipate a coming opportunity. One should not be slow, but one should be able to wait, working diligently without ever losing hope. Merely to hope, however, is vain; one should trust in his own ability to accomplish things. A patient person is able to remain still when he is in pain. The farmer who patiently awaits his harvest from the earth is allowing time to do its work. Patience is not passivity; it is aggressiveness without anxiety.
To be deep is to be not shallow or superficial. It is to base one’s judgment on evidence rather than appearance. It is neither to be nagging nor to be bothersome, but simply to be serious. In any case, one should be deep but not overly inquisitive, since a prying person is useless.