Matthew 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Virtue is allowing God to have control of your thoughts, feelings and actions. Virtue is the moral power to do that which is right in God’s eyes. Virtue is the power and strength to pursue that which is praiseworthy.
In this passage during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commands us that it is not only important to give alms, but that we give alms with the right attitude towards God. Giving alms is the right thing to do. Giving alms is right in God’s eyes. Giving alms is praiseworthy. Nonetheless, giving alms so that you receive the praises of man is not pleasing in God’s eyes. God desires that you give alms not for your own praise but so that HE receives the praise for your actions.
Virtue is pursuing those things that are praiseworthy. However, virtue is not the pursuing of those things that you receive the praises of man. Man is not whom you should seek to please, God desires that you live your life pleasing to HIM. God desires that you live your life so that HE must reach down from heaven and bless you for the good things that you do here on this earth.
God is not only concerned with what you do but with how you do it. Virtue not only is pursuing those things that are praiseworthy but it is also doing those things that are praiseworthy in such a way that God receives the glory and not you. If you do the right thing so that you receive the praises of men, you are doing the right thing for the wrong reason. The wrong reason is that pride has control over your decisions. God resists the proud. Doing the right thing because of pride is an abomination to God because pride is not a part of virtue. Pride has no part of virtue. Pride is something that must depart from your life if virtue is to dwell within you.
Just because you see someone doing the right thing, it does not mean that they have virtue in their life. Look very carefully at the fruit of a person’s life to see if they are doing the right thing for the glory of God or if they are doing it just to receive the praises of man. In Proverbs 31, Solomon gives us a long list of examples of virtue that a young man should be looking for in his future spouse. Anyone might demonstrate one or two examples of virtue on the list in their own power. However, Solomon was given a long list because for an individual to have so many different manifestations of virtue in their life would be a strong indication that they were not doing the right thing simply to receive praise but was doing the right thing so that virtue dwelt within them. It is important to understand that only God can give you the inner strength necessary to do the right thing for the right reasons. Your sin nature is strong but the grace of God is stronger.
God is not only concerned with you doing those things that are praiseworthy but HE desires to see that you do those things that are praiseworthy without expectation to receive praise. If you allow God to keep pride out of your life, then God will be able to bless you for doing the right thing. Nonetheless, if you insist in allowing pride to dwell in your life, then you can do all the right things in the world, but God will not praise you because you have already chosen to receive your praise from man. Virtue conquers pride.
