NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

Day 275 - Virtue


Having a Heart in a Sometimes Heartless World

Scripture focus: The Rock [God]: His works are perfect, and the way he works is fair and just; a God you can depend upon, no exceptions, a straight-arrow God. Deuteronomy 32:4 The Message

…his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. Deutornomy 32:4(b) NIV

Living life God’s way…imitate Christ…as the son imitates the Father, so must we. This is a message most of us have heard often. So if we’re going to follow, it might make a lot of sense to consider the character of the one we are following!

One characteristic of God is virtue. The NIV translation often takes the word “virtuous” and translates it “upright.” God is “upright.” According to Deutronomy, he’s also fair and just and dependable. These “virtues” are among the same values communicated by Randy Pausch in his “Last Lecture” – a lecture he gave to faculty, friends, family, and students at Carnegie Melon Institute. Some might call it coincidence, but to me, it seemed like a “God thing.” Pausch had been one of many faculty members over the years invited to give a “last lecture.” This is a popular trend on college campuses. Ask a favorite faculty member to come and give the lecture he or she would deliver if it were their last and the subject matter was all their own choosing. For Pausch, this was more than an intellectual exercise or a marketing strategy to get a bunch of people to show up and hear him talk. It literally was going to be his last lecture. Armed with the knowledge that pancreatic cancer would indeed cut his life expectancy short, Pausch was busy preparing to live his last days when the invitation arrived. He couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

This lecture became an instant YouTube sensation. The world listened intently to a guy who looked like he had everything to live for describe how he planned to live with the numbered days he had left. Much of what he discussed was about being the kind of guy who doesn’t bluff his way through life. Instead, Randy painted a beautiful picture of a virtuous man. I don’t think he would have said it like that! But whether he knew it or not – Randy Pausch has given us a picture of what it could look like to live a virtuous life.

In this month’s devotional series, we’re going to study some of the lessons that Pausch learned in his own life, and graciously shared with the world. I hope these devotional ditties will raise questions and cause us to seek answers about how we’re living our own life journey.



Recommended reading: Isaiah 66 and Psalm 48 in the morning; Psalm 49 and Proverbs 25 in the evening

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