There is a war on virtue in our society, yes even among our Christian culture, which seems to be more and more accepted and celebrated rather than rejected. We might also call this the war on excellence. They go hand in hand.
A few examples:
I read Proverbs 31 and I see a godly, hard-working woman. She is not lazy. She does not complain. She lives each day with purpose and meaningful work. She takes care of her home and of the needs of those in her home, along with extending herself to the needs of those outside her home. I imagine her home is clean and filled with beauty. Her children are loved, educated, well-instructed, and well-cared for.
I used to come upon wonderful women’s study books on what it is to be a virtuous woman. Books by Elyse Fitzpatrick come to mind, such as Helper By Design, and Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes.
These are no longer the types of books that are written for women. Books filled with self-pity, victimhood, and excuses now rule the day.
Rather than taking pride in caring for our home, women excuse away why their home is a mess, why their husband doesn’t have a helpmeet, and why they need to focus on “self-care” rather than caring for their home and children. If one says that she enjoys keeping a clean home, she is accused of either pride or dishonesty, because surely laziness is the new virtue and everyone embraces it. I need not mention a mother who truly loves raising her children and being around them all day. Surely that too is unfathomable, as the media has made it clear to us all that children are a burden that hold us back from more aspirational pursuits, and who in their right mind would want to raise their own children, let alone truly enjoy it? (For the record, I adore my children. May this never be doubted. I cannot believe that I get to spend my days with them, loving on them and caring for them. I am bewildered every day that this most precious blessing has been turned into something to pity, avoid, and rage about.)
Alongside this celebrated framework of loathing the home and motherhood is how women view and speak of their husbands, both in public as well as privately to him. Respecting one’s husband is biblical. Honoring one’s husband in word and deed is what is beautiful and virtuous and healthy for a marriage. But what has become the norm? Disrespecting one’s husband whether in front of him or behind his back has become not only accepted but applauded. So much so that when women who still respect their husbands don’t join in on the slander they are shunned or once again accused of dishonesty. A wife respecting her husband is good, beautiful, and instructed in Scripture. This shouldn’t be controversial, but the fact that it is shows just one more aspect on the war on virtue. Where men were meant to have a loving helpmeet and devoted support, they are instead being ridiculed, shamed for their masculine virtues, and told they are not needed. “An excellent wife, who can find?” (Proverbs 31:10)—in an age where husband-bashing has become the norm, men are finding this harder and harder to come across.
On a less substantial matter (perhaps?), the war on virtue has even come down to the way we as a society dress. Self-respecting citizens used to take pride in what they wore, knowing that how they presented themselves mattered. This showed not only respect for themselves but for those around them. They knew that dressing up showed that where they were mattered—not least in church, where sweat pants have become the norm in a place where a holy God is to be reverenced for the King He is. The go-to sentiment to counter proper decorum is now “all that matters is the heart.” This is how things such as veils and head coverings get brushed off as clearly no longer relevant, and girls can walk around nearly naked because outward appearance doesn’t matter. But outward appearance typically does stem from the heart. A woman wearing nearly nothing reveals her inward desire for male attention. An adult wearing pajamas to the grocery store reveals that comfort means more to him than respect for society. And Christians who care about decorum in church reveal that they don’t take the Kingship of their Lord lightly.
These are just a few examples that currently come to mind. We could also discuss the way art has declined and become ugly, along with modern architecture and how the absence of beauty in replacement with ugliness has rubbed off on our character and souls. Beauty and reverence go hand in hand.
We could go more in depth about selflessness, giving our time to others, offering ourselves in sacrificial ways when it is inconvenient in order to benefit another, and being others-oriented in a very self-oriented society.
I recently heard someone say, “Reverent people form beautiful things, and beautiful things form reverent people.” I’ve been pondering this, and I see the truth of it everywhere. Lately my six-year-old and I have been studying artists and painters. The curriculum we use—The Good and the Beautiful—intentionally only displays beautiful art. Some might argue that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but that is false. Beauty stems from God, and not all art reflects the beauty of God. Often it mocks it.
As I’ve reflected on the concept “reverent people form beautiful things,” I can’t help but think of the artists of the beautiful paintings that my daughter and I are studying. The paintings portray not only beauty of color and technique which is pleasing to the eye, but they portray goodness and virtue—children playing and laughing around a mother who is working in a garden; boys helping their father carry wood as they appreciate nature around them; older siblings reading to younger siblings as the father prepares a fire and the mother prepares a meal, with a gorgeous sunset displayed through the window. The artist produced such beautiful glimpses of life through art, because the artist himself was beautiful. There is always a biography included of the artists of the paintings we study, and the artists behind such beautiful works always proved to have lived a beautiful life of selflessness, appreciation, reverence, and gratitude. Reverent people form beautiful things.
In contrast, modernity has produced and embraced ugly art, and it reflects the ugliness of modern society. I don’t need to spend time giving examples of the wickedness that has become the norm in our society; one need only look at the news for five minutes and have no doubt that the devil is on a rampage. The ugly soul of modernity rears it’s head through the disposal of all excellence in every corner of civilization. Beautiful things form reverent people, but what is the inverse of this? When all beauty is removed, so are reverent people.
But this is all just labeled pride and legalism now. We cannot talk about such things, or else we are Pharisees. We must simply watch as society declines more and more. That is, at least, what is expected of us. I will not succumb to this, for I have seen beauty, inward and outward, and I have watched as society has revolted against it and what that has led to, and I have better dreams for my children than what this circus culture has produced. I not only pray but intend to teach my children to pursue excellence and virtue, to live a life filled with reverence and awe for our living God, to have respect for themselves as well as for those around them, to live out their God-given convictions even when they are alone in doing so, and to uphold goodness, truth, and beauty in this world that is doing everything in its power to erase these things.
