Rejoicing In The Word For Ladies – Begin with Courage (Feb. 2026)

“Without courage, truth is an orphan.” This quote reminds me of a passage in Psalm 39:1-2, “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.” Truth, God’s truth, needs a champion.

2 Peter 1:3-9 is a marvelous passage for the new and “old” believer. We are told that we are partakers of God’s divine power – “according as his divine power (dynamite power!) hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” This power is granted “through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” Notice that word “virtue.” It is used again in verse 5, at the start of a list of growth goals: “…giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue.”

Faith in Christ is my beginning and foundation; diligence is personal application for development. And Virtue is needed next! Biblical virtue is the combination of moral excellence with moral courage (moral strength). What an amazing discovery! Think of moral excellence as all those highest qualities of truth, beauty, and holiness. Envision the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31. Consider what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. Remember that we are called to glory and virtue. And then realize that such moral excellence requires moral courage – otherwise we risk being “dumb with silence….even from good.”

“Add to your faith virtue.” I will need moral muscle as I approach the continued “adding” in this passage. “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.”

May God help us all to have courage for our faith, to pursue truth and excellence, and to give all diligence in that pursuit. (V.K.S.)