VIRTUE!
This is a devotional presented to the orchestra last Wednesday night by Dean Anderson. I happened to attend the rehearsal that night and was really stricken with the thoughtful ideas Dean shared. I thought you would all like to hear it...
Virtue
(Also translated as excellence)
Please read 2 Peter 1:3-11 (see below)
Are you a virtuoso? We think of a virtuoso as someone who is a highly accomplished musician. Excellence. Not necessarily a person endowed with raw talent but rather someone who has refined his God given gifts with much hard work. The end result of this effort is a level of proficiency that is both consistent and inspiring.
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? … Practice, practice, practice.
But I don't think that the musical sense of virtuosity is the original or primary meaning of the word. In many languages, the word virtuoso is used for both the skillful musician and the virtuous person. However, in English we have separated the two meanings into different words. But imagine a moral virtuoso, someone displaying excellence on the stage of life. I don't mean virtue in the Victorian sense of the word where your virtue is defined by which activities you abstain from. As in the musical analogy, virtuosity is something much more than just not making mistakes during a performance. Is a doctor judged as being skillful and effective if he merely avoids medical malpractice lawsuits?
Peter describes how virtue, or excellence, fits into the process of escaping from the corruption of the world to becoming partakers of the divine nature (v.4.) It seems that the order Peter uses in verses 5 to 7, starting with your faith, then virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and finishing with love, is significant in that it is describing the process of sanctification. But I think that love is the beginning of the process, the love of Christ. (I certainly don’t think Peter is wrong with the order used. I am just noting that he is beginning with the goal and then working backwards.) Having been loved by Christ we can then love our brothers and sisters. As we become more Christ-like (godliness and self-control) we realize (knowledge) that we are no longer slaves to sin.
When the New Testament authors use the phrase "your faith", they are often referring to the whole of a person's Christian walk. Virtue (excellence) is right there at the top level. Virtue is practicing what you know to be true, increasing in self-control, godliness and love. Love, that can only come from God, and is displayed in us towards others. Jesus did not say his disciples would be known by the things they abstain from, but by their love. (John 13:35)
You may never be a skilled enough musician to play in Carnegie Hall, but can you be a virtuoso in the moral and spiritual sense of the word? God has not set a high standard of excellence for us to achieve on our own. He has called us (v.3.) He is supplying his divine power (v.3), precious and very great promises (v.4) so that we will be sanctified, useful and effective (v.8) for his glory.
2 Peter 1:3-11 From the ESV:
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him fwho called us to3 his own glory and excellence,4 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become gpartakers of the divine nature, hhaving escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith iwith virtue,5 and virtue jwith knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control kwith steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness lwith brotherly affection, and brotherly affection mwith love. 8 For if these qualities6 are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or nunfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he ois blind, having forgotten that he was pcleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers,7 be all the more diligent to make your calling and qelection sure, for if you practice these qualities ryou will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you san entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Virtue
(Also translated as excellence)
Please read 2 Peter 1:3-11 (see below)
Are you a virtuoso? We think of a virtuoso as someone who is a highly accomplished musician. Excellence. Not necessarily a person endowed with raw talent but rather someone who has refined his God given gifts with much hard work. The end result of this effort is a level of proficiency that is both consistent and inspiring.
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? … Practice, practice, practice.
But I don't think that the musical sense of virtuosity is the original or primary meaning of the word. In many languages, the word virtuoso is used for both the skillful musician and the virtuous person. However, in English we have separated the two meanings into different words. But imagine a moral virtuoso, someone displaying excellence on the stage of life. I don't mean virtue in the Victorian sense of the word where your virtue is defined by which activities you abstain from. As in the musical analogy, virtuosity is something much more than just not making mistakes during a performance. Is a doctor judged as being skillful and effective if he merely avoids medical malpractice lawsuits?
Peter describes how virtue, or excellence, fits into the process of escaping from the corruption of the world to becoming partakers of the divine nature (v.4.) It seems that the order Peter uses in verses 5 to 7, starting with your faith, then virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and finishing with love, is significant in that it is describing the process of sanctification. But I think that love is the beginning of the process, the love of Christ. (I certainly don’t think Peter is wrong with the order used. I am just noting that he is beginning with the goal and then working backwards.) Having been loved by Christ we can then love our brothers and sisters. As we become more Christ-like (godliness and self-control) we realize (knowledge) that we are no longer slaves to sin.
When the New Testament authors use the phrase "your faith", they are often referring to the whole of a person's Christian walk. Virtue (excellence) is right there at the top level. Virtue is practicing what you know to be true, increasing in self-control, godliness and love. Love, that can only come from God, and is displayed in us towards others. Jesus did not say his disciples would be known by the things they abstain from, but by their love. (John 13:35)
You may never be a skilled enough musician to play in Carnegie Hall, but can you be a virtuoso in the moral and spiritual sense of the word? God has not set a high standard of excellence for us to achieve on our own. He has called us (v.3.) He is supplying his divine power (v.3), precious and very great promises (v.4) so that we will be sanctified, useful and effective (v.8) for his glory.
2 Peter 1:3-11 From the ESV:
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him fwho called us to3 his own glory and excellence,4 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become gpartakers of the divine nature, hhaving escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith iwith virtue,5 and virtue jwith knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control kwith steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness lwith brotherly affection, and brotherly affection mwith love. 8 For if these qualities6 are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or nunfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he ois blind, having forgotten that he was pcleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers,7 be all the more diligent to make your calling and qelection sure, for if you practice these qualities ryou will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you san entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
posted by Tammy at 12:48 PM
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