©11/19/2001 Jim Welch
Scriptural references for:
Virtue is the meaning of life
Verbatim references:
None
Et sic de similibus references:
Virtue is the substance and the meaning of life.
Phl 4:
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.
It is what makes life worth living.
2Pe 1:
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
The greatest virtue is love.
1Cr 13:
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity.
Without love, life would be meaningless and empty.
1Cr 13:
2 And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
Love is the foundation of all other virtues including faith.
Col 3:
14 And above all these things [put on] charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
When we learn to abound with love:
for God,
for people,
for the creatures of nature,
for the flowers and the plants,
for the beauty of God's handiwork,
for the art of the masters,
for the music of the ages
and for the voyage of the discovery of knowledge;
then we are living a life filled with meaning and purpose.
Mat 22:
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The virtue of joy is what causes us:
to delight in God's Presence,
to appreciate the beauty of all God's creations
and to have the sparkle of enthusiastic zeal in our lives.
Isa 61:
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
A person who abounds with virtue is like a breath of fresh air and a shining light in a world which otherwise would be filled with darkness.
2Pe 1:
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make [you that ye shall] neither [be] barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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