A Lesson on Virtue

*A Lesson on Virtue

This week I was studying up on virtue for one of our less active's lessons, and this is a little of what I've come up with:

Virtue seems to be the state of being whole, our capacity to accept God's power and goodness. In the scriptures, virtue has never been given a comprehensive, full definition. It's often paired with chastity, and it seems to go hand-in-hand with holiness. In Preach My Gospel, virtue is explained to be the conscious action of rejecting unwholesome thoughts and committing yourself to good ones. Virtue, in this sense, seems to be the exercise of self-mastery (which is probably why it's so often paired with chastity). Virtue does not come naturally. One must learn how to be virtuous and put it into constant practice.

Its importance is mentioned in Mark 5. Christ describes virtue as his own power, which healed the woman who touched his robes in faith.

2 Peter describes it as more of a seed bed. While charity is the root of all the Christlike attributes, virtue is the ground that allows it to grow. One cannot grow the godly attributes if one does not provide the necessary rich earth of virtue to nourish them. In this scripture, it seems to be the capacity to accept godliness.

Now, let:s put everything we know together: Self-mastery, godliness, and the capacity to accept it. Virtue is self-mastery. In Mosiah 4:19, it says that we must put off the natural man and become a saint. The natural man is an enemy to God and has been from the fall of Adam. It is the tendency of man to give in to his carnal desires and yield to things of temporary gratification or carnal satisfaction. Because we are creatures of flesh, we all have these desires. We were born with them. Virtue is the casting off of the natural man--the peeling off of the heavy, rich, red and gold robes of material worship and donning the white, airy robes of eternity. We were all born on the ground. Virtue is how we learn to fly.

As we practice self-mastery in casting off the natural man, there is no option for ourselves but to be cascaded with godliness. The further we step from ourselves, the more we allow God to pour down his power upon us. As Christ states, he is the light of the world, and a city on a hill cannot be hid. As we accept the gospel and Christ:s teachings more in our life, we cannot help but share it. The more one learns and experiences the Atonement, which heals us of not only sin, but of weakness, insecurity, sadness, injury, prejudice, bigotry, pride, and all the sorrow in the world, the more one wants to tell others of this glorious news. There is a Christ! Come, touch but his robe and you will be healed! This is not a gospel for a handful of Americans in the Midwest--this is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Africa, Japan. The earth is his footstool and his light is in all of us. Learning how to arise and shine forth is a result of virtue.

As 2Nephi 28:30 states, God gives as much as we receive, so it:s only natural that as we shuck the natural man, that our efforts will be rewarded and rerewarded. As we demonstrate our capacity to accept the light of Christ, our capacity will be doubled. If we embrace and exercise it, that capacity will be tripled, and the more virtue we have, the better we will be able to accept and exercise any other Christlike attribute.

That is virtue. As D&C 121 states, *Let virtue garnish your thoughts unceasingly; and then shall your confidence wax strong in the presence of God.*

Love,

Sands Shimai