A VIRTUOUS WOMAN AND A FAITHFUL HUSBAND: THE ENDANGERED SPECIES.
Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!
The faithful have vanished from the earth! (PSALM 12:1)
According to the online Wikipedia, An endangered species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for the conservation of Nature (IUCN) as likely to become extinct. Now extinction in biology and ecology is the end of an organism, normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost at this point. A species will normally become extinct when they are no longer able to survive in changing conditions or against superior competition. Extinction, therefore, becomes a certainty when there are no surviving individuals that can reproduce and create a new generation. Hence we conclude that surviving individuals are the hope of preserving. Also, the conservation status of a species indicates the likelihood that it will become extinct. The conservation status of a species indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future.
The present situation of the Marriage institution today makes God, the Originator of it to be raising alarm as He discovers a great reduction and an almost extinction in the correct species of wife-husband elements in a marriage. Yes, marriages are springing up every day, but at the same time, the rate at which those marriages scatter is alarming! Why? Because the majority of the people coming together as wives and husbands today are not the correct element that could make a marriage work and fulfil the purpose for which God instituted marriage. The right elements seem to be fading into the extinction. Hence, the reason for the many heartaches, troubles, divorces and corruption that have plagued the marriage institution. A successful marriage needs or requires the combination of two correct elements as co-player in the game of marriage, not a round peg in a square hole for marriage to really work.
And in order for us to trace the problem to its right source, God asks the question: “Who can find a virtuous woman (wife), “A faithful man (husband), who can find?”. I see God saying “the solution to the present day troubles in marriage and family life is to make a diligent search for a virtuous woman and a faithful man in marriage. Once a man succeeds in finding a virtuous woman as a wife, and a woman also succeeds in securing a faithful man as a husband; then the world is set to experience what God intended marriage and family life to be! It appears to me as if God is saying, for marriage to work out as it was ordained to be from the beginning, the correct species of men and women must be diligently sought for!
It is not marriage that makes a woman a wife. Likewise, it is not marriage that makes a man husband. A woman must have been processed into a wife material before entering into marriage; likewise, a man also must have been transformed into a husband material before he ventures into marriage. Hence the need for the word “virtuous” to separate some women from among the rest; and the word “faithful” to set apart some men from other men. Women are plenty everywhere even in Christian churches, but virtuous women are very few and scarce to find. Also, men are everywhere present but faithful men are hard to find. A virtuous woman and a faithful husband are a scarce commodity.
THE PRICE OF THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN
“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies”. The virtuous woman has a price tag. When the reason for her scarcity. More importantly, her pride is ‘’far above rubies’’. In other words, her pride is far above the normal and general currency of purchase such as naira of Nigeria, the dollar of the U.S, pounds of the British and so on and so forth, the price of a virtuous woman is outside the jurisdiction of all the available mediums of exchange.
The price tag of many ladies who are
not virtuous of course is one or more of the following; money, food, sex, pieces of jewellery, academic degree, car, status and the likes. And any man who has any of these can easily “purchase” them. But of the virtuous woman, the scripture says, “her price is far above rubies….?. In other words, she is priceless. And the direct implication of this is that a priceless commodity requires a priceless currency to acquire! Therefore, to find (get) a virtuous woman, not the highest bidder has it but the possessor of the priceless currency. Is this not a hard saying? Since there is no such a thing as “priceless currency” among all the world currencies! As at today, the standard global currency is the U.S dollar and is not the same as priceless currency.
not virtuous of course is one or more of the following; money, food, sex, pieces of jewellery, academic degree, car, status and the likes. And any man who has any of these can easily “purchase” them. But of the virtuous woman, the scripture says, “her price is far above rubies….?. In other words, she is priceless. And the direct implication of this is that a priceless commodity requires a priceless currency to acquire! Therefore, to find (get) a virtuous woman, not the highest bidder has it but the possessor of the priceless currency. Is this not a hard saying? Since there is no such a thing as “priceless currency” among all the world currencies! As at today, the standard global currency is the U.S dollar and is not the same as priceless currency.
Virtues are not of natural origin. They are not picked on the ground. What the bible calls virtue even transcend moral behaviours of the fallen sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. What humanity inherited from Adam and Eve is nothing but vices. What the natural man can boast of as morals from the life of Adam is as best described as “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Virtue, in its truest meaning, is of divine origin. Whenever a king gives birth to his children, it is stated that the child has the blood of royalty. This means people are born kings before they are raised and trained to take the positions of kings. In the same vein, men are first born virtuous before they are trained to become virtuous.
2 Peter 1:1-15 “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our saviour Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus and our Lord, according as his divine power hath given us all things that pertains unto life and Godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue whereby hath given unto us exceeding and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, given all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge.”
Being a partaker of divine nature is the foundation is the root of becoming virtuous in life. This is brought about the new birth in the Lord Jesus. The natural or biological birth gives you the life of Adam. This adamic life or nature is such that is characterized by vices. It is a life the bible describes as the life of “flesh”. Here is the characteristic nature of that life. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lavisciousness, idolatory, witchcraft, hatred, variance, and emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. (Gal. 5:19-21 KJV). This is the life we all inherit through our blood linked with Adam. Any of the characteristics features in any life just brand you to Adam. It is this life that has made the world almost inhabitable. This life is the source of conflict, chaos and trouble in the world over and the home is not spared. This base nature is the source of divorce, separation, and many in most marriages today. There is no way any marriage can be what God ordains it to be if any of the parties involved is carrying the Adamic nature. Two immiscible lives cannot fulfil the marriage mandate of “two shall become one.”
GET THE VIRTUOUS LIFE
As I said earlier, a virtuous life is a product of birth, training and impartation. And as I said earlier, just as kings are first born kings before they are kings and ordained to take the positions of kings. In the same way, men and women are first born virtuous before they are trained to become virtuous. It is therefore very pertinent to get the virtuous life in order to live the virtuous life because all the features and physical outlook of a grown-up person are formed not at maturity but from birth. They only shootout as a result of feeding and training.
“It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb…. Your new life is not your old life. Your old birth comes from God’s living word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That is why the prophet said the old life is a grass life, it gives its beauty as short-lived as wilderness. Grass dry off, flowers drop, God’s Word goes on and one forever. This is the word that conceived the new life in you”. (1 Peter 1:19, 20, 23-25 MSG).
“The word is as first, the word present to God, God present to the word. The word was God in readiness for God from day one. The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like father, like son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice. He came to his own people but they didn’t want him. But whoever did want, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said. He made to be their true selves, their child- of- God selves. These are the Go
d- begotten not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten (John 1:1-2, 14, 11-13).
d- begotten not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten (John 1:1-2, 14, 11-13).
Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life begins! (II Cor. 5:17 MSG). Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. (II Cor. 5:17KJV)-
to be continued…