Archive for the 'Feminine Virtues' Category

Now here is a word we don’t hear so much. Living in our promiscuous society, we ought to look for opportunities to use words like chaste, chastity, and chasteness. Great words. (I’m not really suggesting we wear them written on t-shirts or on the seat of sweatpants, but it would be novel.) Now what do these words mean? (Here comes the dictionary.) Technically, to be chaste is to be sexually pure; not indulging in unlawful sexual activity. It means virtuous, not indecent, modest, and can describe general moral excellence. It is Continue reading ‘Chastity’

Let’s look again at how the passage in 2 Peter 1:5-8 begins: “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance…”

Peter isn’t suggesting that we occasionally work on these things. He says “giving all diligence.” He’s not even saying that we do this with some diligence, but rather, with all diligence. So let’s examine what it means to be diligent and what the Bible says about this attribute.

To be diligent is to be hardworking, putting care and effort into what one does. It requires constant, painstaking, and steady effort. We have a detailed description of a diligent woman in Proverbs 31. Take a look at what she does.

1. She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands. (v. 13)

Note the verbs: seeks, works and the adverb willingly.

            Here is an attitude that should accompany our work: willingness, which implies cheerfulness. Her calling is her work, and she is not forced to do these things. Rather, she is seeking out her work of her own accord. This means she is self-governed and self-motivated. Women who hate their work, whether at home, at an office, or as a student, will do a poor job joylessly. How much better it is if we seek out our work willingly and joyfully. I sometimes remind married women that God has given them such good work to do. We need to give ourselves a good job description and not say something like, “No, I don’t work. I’m just a homemaker.” Recently I heard someone say that a friend had admitted that she didn’t want to work, she just wanted to get married and have kids. Someone responded with, “Well, at least she is honest.” To which I replied, “Who said having kids is not work?” And they of course agreed quickly. But women are so used to demeaning their own calling, they don’t even hear themselves doing it. Women are called to a glorious work in their homes. Continue reading ‘Diligence’

Courage is not something we necessarily think of as a feminine virtue, but I think there are good grounds to believe otherwise. Here’s a definition: Courage is the ability to control fear when facing danger, difficulty, or pain. It is to be stout hearted, having a resolute spirit, heroic, fearless, plucky (there’s a word you don’t hear often).

The word virtue comes from the Latin word that means manliness or manly courage. So to be virtuous women, we must forsake cowardliness and embrace a biblical femininity. Proverbs 12:4 says, “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband.” The note in the New Geneva Study Bible says this means literally “a wife of valor.” Now I like that: Christian women are to have a backbone if they want to be a crown to their husbands. A wife who is a coward will not be an excellent wife. Sometimes we mistakenly think that a weak, frail, whimpering wife is what a strong, godly man wants in order to show off his manly strength. But the truth is that kind of woman ends up being more of a liability than a blessing. We are to be courageous women, and we have many biblical examples to follow of women with true faith and courage. Continue reading ‘Courage’