Proverbs 3:1-6
My child, do not forget my teaching,but let your heart keep my commandments; 2For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you. 3Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
4Write them on the tablet of your heart.So you will find favor and a good reputation
In the sight of God and man. 5Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Psalm 119:33-40
33Teach me, the way of Your statutes, Lord,
And I shall comply with it to the end.
34Give me understanding, so that I may comply with Your Law
And keep it with all my heart.
35Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
36Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
And not to dishonest gain.
37Turn my eyes away from looking at what is worthless,
And revive me in Your ways.
38Establish Your [a]word to Your servant
[b]As that which produces reverence for You.
39Take away my disgrace which I dread,
For Your judgments are good.
40Behold, I long for Your precepts;
Revive me through Your righteousness.
Within the first passage is a promise. A promise that if we hold to virtue, we will live a good life. For some of us, that is stirring. The second passage directs us to the scriptures as the way to develop virtue. But what I have often missed about the passage from psalm 119 is that the psalmist is asking God to be involved. It is easy to be seduced into thinking that we are capable of developing virtue on our own strength and intestinal fortitude. But as James reminds us, all good things come from the father. James 1:17. And Jesus even redirects when someone refers to Him as “good” Luke 18:19.
Developing virtue, I believe, does lead us to the abundant life that Jesus promises. But it is only by the grace of God, through seeking him with all my heart, that I have any chance at attaining all the promise that virtue extends.
The psalmist is willing to submit to God’s law but seems also to be aware that there is more to it than that. Submitting to God’s law out of a desire to become virtuous is still putting ourselves on the throne. We are then doing it to develop who we want to become and we see it as a means to gaining power over our world. The psalmist seems to have an idea that within God’s law is eternal life. The psalmist also seems to hold tension that attaining this eternal life can only result from letting the law shape him/her to live out the commands but God’s grace is still crucial to this happening.
If it is God that I seek to know through His word and living out all that I am directed to do by God’s spirit and grace, I can’t help but develop virtue. I also have a feeling that if I am trying to develop virtue as a means to be more godly, and attain eternal life, I will fall way short.
Paying attention to what we pay attention to is the first steps of living more consciously. I have yet to see how we can begin to develop any virtue without first, choosing to live more consciously. Pointing our lives in the direction of developing virtue is not optional, for isn’t virtue another word for Christ. After all, is there any virtue that Jesus does not perfectly embody for us? The term, “consciously” comes with some baggage for a lot of us. So what I mean by referring “living more consciously” is to be intentionally aware of our thoughts, words and deeds and how they affect our selves and our neighbor.