“Your personality is a power, if you develop and train it so as to charm, influence, persuade others rightly, to bring pleasure and encouragement and sunshine and inspiration to others, and to lead them as they ought to be led.” Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this in a 1951 Good News article.
How much do you train your personality as a tool to serve others? Mr. Armstrong continued, “Most people let their personalities stagnate. They never do one thing to improve or develop them—yet a charming, captivating, and persuasive personality is one of the greatest forces for good with which an all-wise God endowed you.”
A royal personality is “one of the greatest forces for good” What a powerful statement! Developing your personality comes down to actively trying to live the way of give in every interaction. Think about how you can give and what you can offer to a situation through your personality.
Living the way of give makes your interactions with other people sparkle—they become interesting and exciting. As you learn how to contribute to conversations and uncover the gold nuggets in other’s personalities—by making them smile and giving joy—you are building an aspect of royalty.
Ron Fraser wrote in a 2011 Philadelphia News article: “To aspire to the highest standard of elegance in personal presentation, general bearing, manners, speech and the appreciation of the finer things in life is a requirement of royalty.” Royalty in this world receives specific training in how to present themselves. They represent the royal crown and must be aware of this standard as they interact with other people. You must think on this as a representative of the new throne of David. We are a part of a royal culture—we are royals!
An article in the February 1967 Plain Truth entitled “Build the Personality of a King” gave five ways to prepare to be a king. The second was: “Build zest and humor into your life.” Zest is flavor, interest, excitement, hardy enjoyment, gusto. Zest and humor are endearing qualities in one’s personality. We need to know how to laugh and see the funny things in life, and be willing to laugh at ourselves.
This quality is something you see frequently in great leaders. The article reads, “One of the most endearing qualities in a man—especially a leader—is the ability to see the humorous side of things, even about himself. Mr. Armstrong has told about one of the great American bank presidents he knew many years ago who had a sign hung up on the wall behind his desk proclaiming: ‘Don’t take yourself too seriously!’” This is a matter of letting go of our vanity. When you are concerned about protecting your image, you lose the ability to enjoy yourself.
We want all of God’s teens to feel free to be themselves, let their personality radiate, and be full of joy and life. It’s OK to be enthusiastic about what you are doing. We want to see more of that!
Proverbs 15:13 says, “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” The New International Versionsays, “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.” God wants us to show—from our faces—that we are happy. A cheerful face is a godly trait. Matthew Henry’s Commentary writes regarding this verse, “Harmless mirth is recommended to us, as that which contributes to the health of the body, making men lively and fit for business, and to the acceptableness of the conversation, making the face to shine and rendering us pleasant one to another. A cheerful spirit, under the government of wisdom and grace, is a great ornament to religion, puts a further lustre upon the beauty of holiness, and makes men the more capable of doing good.”
1 Corinthians 15:41 reads, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.” In John’s Gospel: The Love of God, Gerald Flurry explains, “Some stars are greater and more luminous than others. God really wants us to have a lot of glory! He wants you to have the most ‘star glory’ possible when you are born into the God Family.
“But even today, we should shine with a certain glory. Our faces should shine with happiness!” If “happiness on your face” appeared on your report card, what grade would you be getting? This is important to having a royal personality.
Mr. Flurry continues: “Isaiah 3:9 describes how, because of Israel’s sins, ‘The shew of their countenance doth witness against them ….’ Look around, and you see many unhappy people in this world—people in the bonds of sin.” Can you see that? There are a lot of “stars” in this world—actors, models, influencers—who are physically beautiful, but do they radiate joy? The majority of people look unhappy, and this is caused by sin.
Mr. Flurry says, “We in God’s Church should radiate something entirely different! I believe that, in a general way, we may be able to determine how much star quality and brightness we will have in the future by how much our face shines today in happiness and joy. God wants to make you happy. He has commanded that you be happy! And He has instructed us in exactly how to achieve that: ‘If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.’” You are truly happy when you live God’s law of love—the give way. That is what makes us happy!
The first point in the July-August 2022 Royal Vision article, “Develop the Personality of a Duchess,” is: “Smile often and make eye contact.” Paris Roberts writes, “The Queen and the duchess of Cambridge are rarely seen without a flattering facial expression. This is not because they have naturally pleasant-looking resting faces. They have put attention and focus into their facial expressions. The first manifestation of a negative personality appears in the face. Little or no smile does not invite others to approach you. On the other hand, smiling breaks barriers. It disarms people and makes you instantly approachable.”
Proverbs 15:15 says, “[H]e that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.” Having a merry heart makes you a much more enjoyable person to be around. Don’t go overboard and turn every situation to a joke and draw attention to yourself. But don’t be shy or dampen that sparkle out of vanity either. Have the zest and humor which gives to others and makes life more enjoyable for all.
Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Having a merry heart builds your health. If you are feeling lousy, smiling helps you feel better. For example, when you are running a long distance and feeling tired, caught up in your aches and pains, just smiling will instantly give you a boost of energy.
The Royal Vision article continues, “Our facial expressions are like a teaser to our personality. If your happiness can be seen from a distance because of your smile, you’re probably a friendlier and more positive person.”
The Herbert W. Armstrong College catalog lays out seven objectives for the students toward the purpose of presenting “a balanced education, with emphasis on character development and right culture.” Number four on that list is, “To become more outgoing, considerate, well spoken and humorous.” God has a wonderful sense of humor. Psalm 2 says God laughs! Look at God’s creations, and you can see His humor.
Jeremiah Jacques writes in his article, “The Value of Humor”: “[C]onsider the example of God’s servant Elijah when he was talking to a group of pagan prophets in 1 Kings 18. These pagan prophets spent a long time trying to get their false god to manifest himself. They were shouting and jumping around, but to no avail. Of course, Elijah knew that their god was imaginary. Their god was a social construct of their own devising. But instead of dryly telling these pagans that their god was false, Elijah did something funny. He said, ‘Shout louder! He’s a god, so maybe he’s busy. Maybe he’s relieving himself. Maybe he’s busy someplace. Maybe he’s taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up’ (1 Kings 18:27; International Standard Version).”
Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is a time to laugh. Develop this aspect of your royal personality—“to charm, influence, persuade others rightly, to bring pleasure and encouragement and sunshine and inspiration to others, and to lead them as they ought to be led. … [A] charming captivating, and persuasive personality is one of the greatest forces for good with which an all-wise God endowed you.” Share this aspect of your personality with more people, not just your close friends. Building zest and humor into your life is a wonderful key to building a royal personality.