Virture - A Forgotten Quality

Virtue, a Forgotten Quality

Virtue is defined as moral excellence. It represents the highest quality and character a person can exhibit. It is used in three separate passages in the New Testament. It is listed as one of the qualities Christians are to meditate on in Philippians 4.8; 2 Peter 1.3 tells us we have been called by His glory and virtue; and 2 Peter 1.5 says to add to our faith virtue and add to our virtue knowledge.

It is not used much any more as may describe somebody as being a good moral person instead of saying they are virtuous. However, it is an important quality. I believe we could describe Cornelius in Acts 10 as being a virtuous person. He desired to know the will of God and once he heard about Jesus, he obeyed the Gospel. A virtuous person can be trusted whereas a person lacking virtue can not. A virtuous person will be fair, treat his neighbor with love, and seek to please God; a person lacking virtue will do what pleases them. God will be left out of the picture and they will do evil or wrong if they can get by with it.

I hope nobody will take offense at what I am about to say, but I think a lot of people voted in the last Presidential election thinking that they were choosing a virtuous person. Barack Obama spoke of change and we know that Washington , D.C. needs a lot of change. He spoke of listening to people and “getting it.” I noticed new poll numbers came out today. His approval ratings are already on the decline. Why? Let us look at what he has done so far. He lifted a ban that restricted U.S. subsidizing abortions in other countries. As part of family planning and population control we are now paying for abortions. He allowed gay and lesbian groups to take part in his inauguration. I saw a band with the banner “Gay Pride” marching in the inaugural parade. He announced that he will reserve the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the military, thus allowing openly homosexuals into the military. He campaigned on openness and honesty. One of the first things he did was announce that lobbyist would not be a part of his administration. Then he announced that he was making an exception for a lobbyist to be a part of his cabinet.

Do not get me wrong. I hope that this President respects God’s word and leads us in a way that is acceptable to Him. However, to do that means he will have to be virtuous. This means he will have to be morally right.

After the fall of the Soviet Union a number of brethren went over to Eastern Europe and Russia to preach the Gospel. I was privileged enough to go to Tula , Russia and Moscow . It was hard to understand the economic condition of those places. The International Airport at Moscow was cold, poorly lighted, and looked old. There were no restaurants, no bookstores, and no gift shops. The walls were dingy and the temperature was cold. The buses we rode looked as if they needed to be replaced. Public buildings lacked facilities such as restrooms.

Time after time people complained to us about their economic situation. One idea we tried to stress was the need for virtue. You see one of the problems they had was corruption. Their elected leaders took money on the side. Due to their tax laws many businesses cheated on their taxes. Due to businesses cheating on their taxes, crime bosses demanded payoffs from those businesses. Those businesses could not go to the police because they themselves were breaking the law.

When a people lose their virtue they are destined to fail. While we need to pray for our leaders, we need to pray more for God’s will to be done and virtue to be seen. –Dennis Tucker

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