THE BEST AT VIRTUE – Proverb 31:29
Proverbs 31:29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
Many people sacrifice their entire life to be the best at something. Sports figures spend hours in training in order to get a little bit faster, a little bit quicker and a little bit stronger then their fellow competitor. In the business world, you see CEO’s battling it out to see who can bring their shareholders the most amount of money so that they will be recognized as the best and receive a high salary. No matter what it is that you are doing, most people desire to excel to be the best that they can be.
The virtuous woman is receiving praise from her children and her husband. They recognize that the virtuous woman is not the only one who has demonstrated virtue. They praise the virtuous woman for demonstrating virtue that far excellest everyone else’s virtue. They see that she has demonstrated virtue the best and they praise her for it.
If you are going to be the best at something, why not be the best at something that matters. You have read the biographies of many great Christians. You have read how some Christians have great faith, others are great prayer warriors and some are intellectual giants. These great Christians excelled because they had a close relationship with God. They spent time discerning God’s will and you see the result of what happens when God blesses those who draw close to HIM.
Throughout the scriptures you see the great testimonies of those who served God. You see how God refers to David as a man after HIS own heart. You read how God calls Job a perfect man. You understand how Daniel refused to compromise and how God saved him. The scriptures are full of examples of those who sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, yet still excelled far above your current expectation for your life.
In the same way that Jesus commended some for having great faith and others for having little faith, so too can you have great virtue or little virtue. The reason why the virtuous woman is referenced as such is because she desired to have great virtue. To be great virtuously, she did not all of a sudden one day decide she was going to be virtuous and all of a sudden add all this character to her life. Instead, she had to daily grow in virtue. Every day she had to see what she could do that day to draw closer to God’s perfect will for her life. As she diligently grew in virtue, those around her recognized the difference in her life.
If you are going to be the best at something, why don’t you try to be the best at something that matters? Why don’t you try to be the best soul winner that you can be or the best prayer warrior? Why try to be the best at something that is only temporal. Very few people can remember today who won the gold at the second Olympics for running the sprint. The glory of man is but for a moment, here today, gone tomorrow.
You must strive to add virtue to your life. How much virtue you add is up to you. You can add just a little virtue or you can fill your life with virtue knowing that God will be able to use you in ways you never imagined. Virtue requires that you put on the mind of Christ and think upon those things that are pleasing to HIM. As you develop a mind to do Christ’s perfect will, you will find yourself excelling in ways you never imagined.