August 2008 Meditation: Virtue
VIRTUOUS, 1828 Webster’s:
Morally
good; acting in conformity to the moral law; practicing the moral
duties, and abstaining from vice; being in conformity to moral and
divine law; chaste; having great or powerful properties; having or
characterized by moral virtue; righteous.
Synonym – effective, efficacious, efficient, moral, ethical, principled, righteous, right-minded
Efficacious
– having the power to produce the desired result, especially a cure or
an improvement in somebody’s physical condition; producing the effect
intended; having power adequate to the purpose intended; powerful
VIRTUE, 1828 Webster’s:
Strength;
bravery; valor; moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the
abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the
moral law.
General moral excellence; right action and thinking;
goodness or morality; excellence in general; merit; value; effective
power or force
Synonyms – goodness, morality,
righteousness, rightness, uprightness, excellence, merit, perfection,
quality, affection, character, characteristic, power, energy, force,
might, strength, vigor
According
to these definitions virtue is not evident in our world. It is a rare
occurrence. How can we keep it? How can we instill it in our children
and our grandchildren when everything in the world is heading in the
opposite direction? We have to take a stand for virtue. We should live
a life worthy of the Lord given to holiness and respect for Him. We
demonstrate our love for Him by believing He made us to be virtuous
woman and acting on it.
When a monarch does not act on their
authority or act like the royalty they should, what happens? The people
lose respect and many times the monarchy is overthrown. At the time we
receive Jesus as our Lord we are made royalty. God named us to be
virtuous woman. We are who He says we are, but we need to think about
it, get it in our mind and act on it.
The world has painted an
entirely different picture for us. They tell us that it is all right to
give our flesh what it wants. Morality can be according to our whims.
There are no absolutes. Morality is different to each individual.
On
the other hand, the Bible gives us a standard to live by. God tells us
what it means to be virtuous, to be right, good, etc. The reason we
have such a difficult time with it is because we do not believe what He
said, or we do not know what he thinks. It is time to believe Him and
to act on what we believe. As we do we will become the women He already
created us to be in Christ Jesus.
Trying to be virtuous or to be
right will not work. We cannot do it. God sent a Savior, Jesus to take
our place so we could become who He is. Jesus became sin for us, so we
would be made the righteousness of God in Him. If we look at the
definition of virtuous, one of the synonyms is righteous. The reason
people are not moral today is because they have not been made righteous
through a relationship with Jesus Christ, or they continue to dwell on
mistakes of the past. Both of these positions will cause a downward
spiral to occur.
The only way up is by looking up, “looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). He is
our example. Jesus saw Himself in the Word of God, believed it and
acted on it. Luke 4:16-21 depicts this for us.
So He came to
Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was
handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book,
He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the LORD is
upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the
captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those
who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then
He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And
the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He
began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing.”
Luke 4:16-21
Can you imagine standing in front
of a crowd of religious people and stating this? Jesus knew who the
Father made Him to be. He did not allow fear to keep Him from the
divine task he was given. He not only believed it, but He acted on it.
It
is time for us, as Christian women, to be who God made us to be in
Christ. When we do we will be able to stand against the immorality of
this world and be someone others will want to emulate.
YOU ARE A WOMAN OF VIRTUE AND NOBLE CHARACTER.