SPF 283: How the Daily Little Battles Build Virtue

Johnathan Edwards said, "True virtue never appears so lovely as when it is most oppressed;" Today I am sharing how Opposition to virtue is grounds for glory - That all these uphill battles in our lives really matter and are cultivating lasting virtue in us, something more  precious than gold.

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I don't have many show notes today, but here is the quote from my friend that I mentioned in the podcast (I had already recorded but thought I'd leave it here as a bonus):

St. Gregory of Nyssa. (from The Life of Moses): 

"No Good has a limit in its own nature but is limited by the presence of its opposite, as life is limited by death and light by darkness … Just as the end of life is the beginning of death, so also stopping in the race of virtue marks the beginning of the race of evil."

And here are the Jonathan (not Thomas ha!) Edwards quotes:

"“True virtue never appears so lovely as when it is most oppressed; and the divine excellency of real Christianity is never exhibited with such advantage as when under the greatest trials; then it is that true faith appears much more precious than gold, and upon this account is "found to praise and honour and glory.” - Jonathan Edwards

“True virtue does not arise from self-love or from any earth-bound selflessness… but from a desire to see God’s glory displayed above all.” - J. Edwards

Matthew Henry Commentary on Hebrews 5: https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Hbr/Hbr_005.cfm?a=1138008