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Desire to be Virtuous
by Taylor Hoisington Proverbs 31:10, "Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies." How many of you have ever heard of the Proverbs 31 woman? I've read through Proverbs 31 multiple times in my life. It's the perfect chapter for finding out the character a woman of God should have. It's been a desire of my heart to begin practicing being this kind of woman and breaking down each verse to do so. Verse 10 is where this woman is first talked about. As the verse above shows, the first character traits that are talked about are virtue and capability. One definition the Merriam-Webster dictionary has for virtue is "morally good behavior or character". In a world where morals are not highly valued, how can I be a virtuous person? I need to be a person of integrity and conviction. Have you ever noticed how it's easy to compare our actions with other people's actions rather than comparing them with the Word of God? I was reading Psalm 119 today, and verses 5-6 say, "Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees! Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands." It's so important that we compare our life with God's commands rather than comparing them with other people's actions. If we compare what we're doing with other people, it's easy to fall into the mindset of, "Well, what I'm doing isn't as bad as what they're doing." and we justify our sin away. God's Word, on the other hand, never changes. We can always go to His Word to see if what we are doing is glorifying to God or sinful. To be a person of virtue, I need to have convictions in my life that I stand up for. Recently in church, the sermons were out of the book of Daniel. The pastor shared how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had conviction about not bowing down to the idol King Nebuchadnezzar set up because they had conviction. They demonstrated this conviction in Daniel 3:18 when they said, "But even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up." They had conviction in their hearts not to bow to the idol whether God rescued them from being thrown into the furnace or not. Here's my challenge for us today: let's practice being virtuous in our world where virtue isn't highly valued. I can assure you that God values virtue highly. Dear Heavenly Father, I so desire to be the woman of God that You've called me to be. I want to be a woman of virtue. Lord, I need Your help to be this kind of woman. Help me have morals that are in line with Your Word. Help me have conviction about things that You want me to have conviction about and stand up for what I believe in. Make me like Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and help me do what's right no matter what the outcome may be. In Jesus' Name. Amen. Taylor desires to use the gift God has given her to write to reach people for Christ. More of her writings can be found on her facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gods-Girl-Devotionals/1438687046349953?ref=hl or in her book God's Girl Devotionals, My Journey Through Life with God by my Side Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |