“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,” (2 Peter 1:5, ESV)

Virtue can be defined as “a beneficial quality or power of a thing” or “a commendable quality or trait.”

My thoughts on any virtues one may actually possess have always been extremely cautious and guarded. Counsel to “take heed lest you fall” always seemed particularly applicable in this area; no downside to this guidance was considered. Measuring how one measures up to God can be a particularly daunting practice. God does not possess virtue, He is virtue. For example, the scripture tells us that God is love. Man can have love, man can show love, man can be loving, but man could never possess the quality of love or be love as is God. Unchecked, one can extrapolate this concept to a view that effectively holds that man cannot be virtuous, he can only act virtuously. There is a downside to carrying this concept “too far.”

It is true that in this life that man is never perfect. Man’s virtue is never pure or perfect. And certainly awareness of one’s feet of clay is important, however, balance is very much needed. Virtues such as patience, endurance, justice, courage, faith, hope and love are qualities I want to build in my life and demonstrate through word and deed; these are qualities I need to seek and to possess, even in my own imperfect fashion.

There is a popular concept practiced in athletic and business coaching alike whereby the athlete or executive is taught to visualize the desired result, to visualize the baseball going over the fence, the presentation hitting a chord with the client, the football going between the uprights, or see in the mind’s eye the little white ball going into the cup. It seems somewhere along the way in my Christianity I learned not to think thusly when it came to virtue. I practiced thinking I was not patient for if I did I might not be careful in acting so. Writing this out it seems inconceivable that I thought this way for so long a time.

I generally do not have difficulty being patient. For example, when tested at an airline ticket counter my attitude has often been “I need to be a good witness” and have acted patiently. However, the same effect can be accomplished with a different attitude. I’ve also said to myself “I am patient” and that has not led to pride and failure. The outward action (unless executed with lack of humility) is the same. Our culture places a great emphasis on actions over thought. We are counseled that feelings are not primary and in many cases not really important. If we don’t feel patient in the moment it is still important to act so. This is true, but again, balance is needed. One is better if both patient in deed AND patient in the mind, heart, and spirit. This is particularly important in regard to the heart. Scripture instructs that if we regard iniquity in our heart, we sin and are guilty. I don’t need to kill my neighbor to be guilty of murder, only be angry! One can simply have impatient thoughts and be guilty of impatience. The Christian of course needs awareness of his actions and witness, he also need be concerned about his thinking, his feeling, his intuition, even his impulses.

With regard to virtue my prayer can be:

• I’m impatient, grant me patience;
• I’m unloving, grant me love;
• I’m weak, grant me endurance;
• I’m scared, grant me courage.

On the other hand, just as the man who cried out to Jesus:

”Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”” (Mark 9:24, NASB95)

My prayer can also be:

• I can wait, grant me patience;
• I love, grant me your love;
• I can go on, grant me endurance;
• I can fight, grant me courage.

As a servant of the Lord I need to have a proper perspective of my own capabilities. Certainly, pride is to be avoided and with Christ as our reference we will never measure up regarding any virtue or good quality. But for the Christian there are deeper considerations. The Christian has learned from God’s word, through the lessons of our fathers in the faith, through the lessons of contemporary brothers and sisters in Christ, and from our own experiences (yes, especially our own mistakes and blunders). We SHOULD have some level of capacity, some virtue, some capabilities. Even the baby Christian who doesn’t have advantages gained from years walking down the narrow path has the benefit of having been called and touched by Christ, and the indwelling of His Spirit. To be sure, an assumption of humility is a good rule in dealing with self and others, but one needs a proper sense of who and what he can do, and where he needs God’s help. Compared to our Lord our righteousness is as rags. Our love is not infinite as is God’s. Nothing we as created beings possess can compare to that of the infinite Creator of All. On the other hand, He created us, He dwells in us, we are new creatures in Christ, we are joint heirs with Christ.

We can remember our condition when He called us, we must always remember who and what we were. To forget that is to forget who the Creator is, He who is the author and finisher of our faith. But we should also see ourselves as loved children of God, co-heirs with Christ. We should consider that Christ has changed us, His love changes those whom He touches. There is not just one perspective to consider — balance is vital for the healthy Christian.