Psalm 11:7 New Living Translation (NLT) "For the righteous Lord loves justice. The virtuous will see his face". This verse is so powerful..to see the face of God is the ultimate eternal life for us.
Here's a Cherokee Legend titled "Two Wolves". It contains the Christian virtues we all strive to possess in our lives. The vices listed in this Legend are traits that as a Christian person we battle with everyday and at the same time work to acquire the Biblical and Christ-like virtues. The definition of virtue is a behavior showing high moral standard.
How can our vices be replaced with the virtues we are taught in God's Word? How can we be certain our behavior is virtuous? Behavior is formed by repeating the same thing over and over, the behavior takes residence in your mind and it becomes a habit. We want our habits to be good and our everyday behavior to be filled with all of these Christian virtues. One of the best ways to develop good behavior is to strengthen your relationship with God, our Lord and Savior. Some ways to do this is to understand how Jesus, our role model, lived by reading the Gospels, attend a community Church, associate with like minded individuals to discuss God's Word, be silent in prayer so you can hear God speaking to you, take a walk in nature, all of these actions develop a well-formed conscience. A well formed conscience is when we can hear the voice of God and we know right from wrong. Having the Holy Spirit, the conscience of God, inside of our hearts, souls and minds will ultimately assist us on our journey to virtuous living.
*Two Wolves*
An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.”
“One is EVIL. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.”
“The other is GOOD. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”
“The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old chief simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Author Unknown
2 Peter 1:5-8 New International Version (NIV)
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.