“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”—2Peter 1:3
The word ‘virtue’ as used in the opening text above, is translated from the Greek word, ‘arete’; properly meaning, manliness or valour. That is excellence or exploits. The opening text tells us that God has called us to glory and virtue. I had already dealt with the call to glory part, in my article; “Walking in Divine Glory”.
In this particular article, we will be expounding on the call to virtue part.
This particular topic is very important to the body of Christ worldwide; as many believers are deluded concerning salvation. Many believe the saving call of Jesus is only but a ticket to heaven and nothing else…
Especially as it concerns this topic, many Christians wrongly believe that mediocrity and failure in life, is the same thing as godliness. And as such, they settle with mediocrity and failure in every area of life. They settle for mediocrity and defeat in their spiritual, marital, academic, career or business lives… and virtually every area of life.
They wrongly believe that the super-excelling believers, making exploits in every area of life are missing it. And consequently, they look out for one fault or the other to slander or lambaste them; with the wrong notion that they are doing God a service.
But the word of God tells us that “They that do know their God, shall be strong and do exploits”—Daniel 11:32. Then again, the word of God tells us that we shall be the head and not the tail. That we shall be above only, and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13).
Hence, mediocrity and defeatedness in life can never be attributed to godliness. Instead from scriptures, virtuousness or exploits or excellence is actually what God sees as godliness…
Because that is exactly what God has called us to according to our opening text. Our exploits or excellence in life, glorifies God. Thus, a pursuit of excellence or exploits by the grace of God in us is definitely a pursuit of godliness from scriptural authority.
Our God is a God of exploits and excellence. While the Lord Jesus was on earth, he did exploits in his ministry, which is still speaking till date. And if we are to follow the footsteps of our God and Lord, exploits and excellence in every area of life must be our pursuit. So we want to see the biblical ways or keys for the pursuit of excellence or virtuousness in every area of our lives as Christians.
The Biblical Keys to Christian Virtuousness
The list below constitutes the biblical keys for accessing a virtuous life in Christ Jesus:
- Faith: “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my father”—John 14:12.From the above scripture, the Lord says anyone who believes in him shall do the exact same works that he did. The works being referred to here are majorly his ministerial and miraculous exploits. And he added; “And greater works than these shall he do”. Here he is referring to individual Christians, not Christians collectively—Hence the use of the word ‘he’. It doesn’t read; “And greater works than these shall they do”.Absolute and holistic faith in God is needed in a Christian for this particular scripture to be realized in his life. Thus, Christian virtuousness is primarily a function of unfeigned and tenacious faith in God and his eternal words.
- Knowledge: “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits” – Daniel 11:32The above scripture tells us that the knowledge of God is required for strength and doing exploits. Knowledge here refers to the revelational knowledge of God through the indwelling Holy Spirit in us. And we receive these revelational knowledge from the Holy Spirit, through continual word study, meditation and prayers.Thus, virtuousness in the kingdom of God is also a function of divine revelational knowledge.
- Diligence: A major scriptural key to excellence or virtue in every area of life is diligence. Both in the Christian and secular world. The virtuous woman in the book of proverbs chapter 31 is a typical biblical example of the direct relationship between diligence and excellence or virtuousness.To record exploits in every area of our lives, we must of a necessity add diligence to our faith. For instance, right from the very moment I gained admission into the university, I chose the class of degree I was going to graduate with by faith in God.As I did that, I started confessing it and by the grace of God, I set out about one hour to be studying my books every day, very early in the morning after prayers. I gave myself a target of rounding off all my course outlines at least twice before exam timetable would be out. So during the exam period I would just be left with revision…
And as I did that consistently by God’s grace, all through my years in the university, I became and remained one of the best students. I taught my course mates in more understandable ways than my lecturers. Many a time, I would finish answering exam questions allotted two hours to, in just 30 minutes.
And finally, to the glory of God, I graduated with the exact class of degree I desired of God, in spite of all the challenging oppositions. And as such, I was among the list of the best graduating students in my session. Hence, diligence is a major key to Christian virtuousness in every area of life.
- Divine Wisdom: Divine wisdom is another major key to Christian virtuousness or excellence. Many suffer mediocrity and defeat, just for the want of wisdom. Divine wisdom in the form of inspired thought or idea is what makes a believer outstanding amongst his contemporaries. For instance, it is divine wisdom from God that has turned me into a successful, self-taught, multi-lingual, freelance programmer.And by the grace of God, within a year, I already had an edge above many other programmers in the new City we currently live as I was led into by God. To receive wisdom from God for excellence in every and any area of life, you just have to ask him for it in faith (James 1:5-6).
Added to this list above, Christian virtuousness is also a direct function of godliness, Love of God and Meekness. And as you engage these scriptural keys, you will definitely emerge a champion and super star in every area of your life to the glory of God in Jesus precious name!
Remain Blessed!
Emeke Odili
