“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? – Isaiah 49:15a(NIV)
INTRODUCTION
We bring you this week, the concluding part of “Honouring our Mothers”. This time we are sharing with you the “Attributes of the Virtuous Woman” in Proverbs 31which we came across on the net. Please enjoy and share it with others.
ATTRIBUTES OF THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN – PROVERBS 31:10-31
Most of us have heard of if not read Proverbs 31 and the description of a virtuous woman. Many of us have also studied it to some degree.
Wouldn’t we want to be considered virtuous by your husband, family and the rest of our acquaintances?
In Proverbs 31:10 -31 we see how much careful thought has gone into describing how we us a woman of strength and purpose should carry ourselves. We can take it as God’s description of the perfect woman from A – Z.
This woman is everything that God has created her to be to her husband, children, society, and last but not least to God Himself. This is descriptive of all of us women even though we may not individually have all the attributes. What a joy to know that God considers us very VIRTUOS.
Below are the characteristics of this awesome woman of God.
- A – A Biblical Treasure!, Able, Amazing, Admirable (Verse 10)
- B – Blessing, Beautiful, Beneficial bounty (Verse 11)
- C– Considerate, Caring, Conscientious (Verse 12)
- D – Decisive, Determined, Disciplined, Domestic, Diligent (Verse 13)
- E – Economical, Enterprising (Verse 14)
- F -Flexible, Focused, Faithful, Fruitful (Verse 15)
- G – Gardener, Gifted, Go-getter (Verse 16)
- H – Hardworker, Honourable, Handy, Homemaker (Verse 17)
- I – Intelligent, Investor, Intuitive, Industrious (Verse 18)
- J – Joyful worker, Juggler of tasks (Verse 19)
- K – Kind (Verse 20)
- L – Loving, Linen maker (Verse 21)
- M –Magnificent, Meticulous, Majestic, Matronly, Mother (Verse 22)
- N – Noble, Noteworthy (Verse 23)
- O – Organized, Obedient, Original, Observant (Verse 24)
- P – Prepared, Powerful, Purposeful, (A) Pillar (Verse 25)
- Q – Quiet Spirited (Verse 26)
- R – Responsible, Reliable, Robust (Verse 27)
- S – Superwoman!, Saint, Skilled, Steady, Special (Verse 28)
- T – Terrific, Trustworthy, Tremendous (Verse 29)
- U – Unaffected by the World, Uncompromising, Understanding, Unequalled (Verse 30)
- V – Virtuous!, Valued, Victorious, Visionary (Verse 31)
VERSE 10
“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.”
I think we all have a picture in our minds of what “virtuous” means. Do we picture Mother Teresa, the Virgin Mary or Mrs. Mary Chinery-Hesse, the current first female Chancellor of University of Ghana?
The word “Virtuous” is found only three times in the scripture – Once in reference to Ruth 3:11 “And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.”
Once inProverbs 12:4 “A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed [is] as rottenness in his bones.” and then finally in Proverbs 31.
This is the definition of the word “virtuous” from the Hebrew as found in the Strong’s Concordance.
- strength
- might
- efficient
- wealth
- army
Here are some modern definitions I found:
- WorldNet Princeton – morally excellent
- Merriam Webster– Potent, efficacious, having or exhibiting virtue, morally excellent righteous
- Free Dictionary – morally good, chaste
I also looked up the word Virtue which is of course the root of the word Virtuous:
WorldNet Princeton – the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong
Merriam Webster –
- a: conformity to a standard of right: morality
b: a particular moral excellence
- a commendable quality or trait: merit
- a capacity to act: potency
- chastity especially in a woman
The Hebrew word “virtue” translated here is also translated for the most part to denote things like “strength”, “efficiency”, “ability”, “might”, “power”. It is even used for “army” and “force”.
This woman is a woman who is ready for the task at hand whatever it may be. Efficient, strong, able, organized (the image of an army makes me think of an organized situation), ready – all these words would be appropriate to describe her. This point begins to lead me into the next point of this passage – “for her price is far above rubies”.
Now that we have a clear view of what this amazing woman is like we can see ourselves becoming her. This will not be an overnight process and may not even be a year process. However, it is a walk that we can carry out daily with the help of God.
If at some point we fall, we can always get back up and try again without regrets. We can learn a lot from the Proverbs 31 woman and how she carried herself.
Let’s go to God and ask Him how we can apply the virtues to our lives today.
Stay blessed!
Please continue to join us on Asempa 94.7 FM – Sunday 5.30 am., Sunny 88.7 FM – Tuesdays 5:30 am; and Uniiq 95.7 FM – Saturdays 7:30 pm, YFM 107.9 – Sundays 6.30am; for our Radio Bible Study as well as Sunny FM 88.7 FM every Sunday at 3:30 pm. for Hymn and their Stories
The post Honouring Our Mothers (Part III) appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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