Get Ready for Twelve Virtues for our Time from the Book of Ruth

Things You Need to Know

About That Blue Button

In the last series, a few folks kindly told me they were tired of the blue button and my repeated nudges about becoming a paid subscriber. One of those voices was my wife. She finally said, “David, enough with the blue button.” And she was right. Too much marketing can drown out the message. I hear that, and I’ll try to do better this time around.

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At the moment, The Anglican has about 420 paid subscribers and around 6,000 total. I’d like to see both groups grow. Why? Because I want to keep this writing ministry alive as I step into my seventh decade.

I was a pastor who wanted to grow a congregation—and by God’s grace, we did.

I’ve worked as an Anglican leader who wanted to grow a Province—and we did that too.

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Twelve Virtues for our Time from The Book of Ruth

Ordinary People. Extraordinary God.

Introduction

We’re about to begin a new series in the Book of Ruth, and I’m glad for it.

I’ve lived with this story of Ruth for a while now. Back in 2021, I wrote The Ordinary Ways of God. That little book has gone further than I expected, and I’ve been grateful to see how many people discovered that God often works in ways that look plain, even hidden. Not fireworks. Not fanfare. Just ordinary faithfulness.

But when I finished writing, I knew I wasn’t really done. Students of any Bible study know that once is never enough. Every time you go back to the passages of the Bible, no matter how well-worn your Bible is, you discover new insights, new truths, and new applications you didn’t see the first time around.

Thus, you will understand when I say that only later—after I had published Ordinary Ways—did I realize what Ruth had given me: a kind of blueprint for how God changes a nation.

Our series this time is a sequel to the first: a few references, but entirely new material.

If you know the story, you may already guess what I mean. If you don’t, you’ll see it soon enough. But here’s what I mean:

Renewal doesn’t usually come from the top down. It doesn’t wait for some hero on a balcony. It takes root in the day-to-day. The habits, the small obediences, the steady faith of regular people:

Raising children.
Going to work.
Living through illness.
Burying the dead.
Keeping promises.
Showing kindness.
Loving.
Praying.
Doing the next right thing in front of you.

And this is where the language of virtue helps us. Virtues are not quick fixes or one-off choices.

They are the steady patterns of life, the moral muscles we build by repetition. Courage, patience, loyalty, generosity—these don’t drop from the sky. They grow when we practice them.

The Greeks knew this, the Church Fathers knew it, and the Bible shows it again and again.

The Virtues

Virtues tell us not just what we believe, but how we should act in our own day. They shape us into the kind of people God can use—people who are ready when the moment comes, even if the moment is small. And we will see in the Book of Ruth, especially if the moment is small.

Ruth wasn’t trying to “change history.” She was living faithfully, day after day. And her virtues—kindness, loyalty, courage, and faith—became the soil in which God planted His larger plan.

That’s why in this series I’m naming twelve virtues that rise out of Ruth’s story. They are: Loyalty, Courage, Faith, Kindness, Humility, Obedience, Hope, Patience, Integrity, Generosity, Trust, and Love. Each one shows up in the life of Ruth, Naomi, or Boaz in remarkable ways. And each one speaks directly to the kind of people we are called to be in our own time.

What is Virtue?

The word virtue is stronger than we usually think. It comes from the Latin virtus, built on vir, which means “man” or “strength.” At its root, it has to do with vitality, even with blood and life-force. The Romans used it for courage in battle, the kind of moral energy that holds fast when everything is on the line.

When the Bible was translated into Latin (the Vulgate), virtūs was often used to render Hebrew and Greek words that meant power, excellence, or moral goodness. For example:

• In the New Testament, Peter writes, “Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue” (2 Peter 1:5). The Greek word there is aretē, which means excellence or moral virtue.

• In the Gospels, when Jesus heals, people sometimes feel power go out of Him. The Latin Vulgate uses virtus for that power (Luke 8:46).

So, in Scripture, virtue carries both the sense of moral excellence and active power. It’s not abstract.

Memorize this: Virtue goodness with strength behind it.

We’re talking about strength of character, faith that bleeds into action, the lived goodness that changes the world, even though it does set out to try to change the world.

The Great Man Theory

Historians sometimes talk about the “great man theory.” It’s the idea that history moves forward because of extraordinary figures—men with enough genius or charisma or power to bend events around them. Napoleon is the stock example. He rises from obscurity, hijacks the French Revolution, and marches across Europe.

Churchill is another example.

There’s something attractive about the idea. But it’s dangerous too. If we think change always depends on the hero, we’ll start worshipping heroes and waiting around for someone else to do the work.

Meanwhile, our own call to be faithful today gets lost.

The Bible’s Way

Scripture tells another story. It doesn’t deny that individuals matter. But it does insist that God is the one who moves history forward.

Think of the Hebrew midwives who saved Hebrew boys in Egypt, or Mary of Nazareth. Or the boy who handed Jesus five loaves and two fish. The great arc of history belongs to the Lord, and He often carries it along through ordinary people in ordinary places.

Ruth’s Way

Ruth was not a queen or a general. She was a widowed foreigner who chose to cling to her mother-in-law, to honor the God of Israel, and to walk in covenant faithfulness. She marries Boaz. A child is born. That child leads to David. And from David’s line comes Jesus.

That’s how God changes a nation…and a world. Quietly. Locally. Faithfully.

And that’s the journey we’re about to take in this new series: Twelve Virtues for Our Time from the Book of Ruth. Not the greatness of man, but the greatness of God in the small, the quiet, the faithful.

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Join me

Twice a week—Tuesdays and Thursdays at our usual hour: 6:12 AM Central—I’ll be writing through Ruth, tracing these twelve virtues in real time. If you want the whole journey, become a paid subscriber and walk with me.

• $8/month or $80/year

• Paid members get the complete series in their inbox, plus the archive and extras.

• Paid members will also get a copy of The Ordinary Ways of God delivered tomorrow in your inbox! (What a deal!) You may want your own paperback version.

If you’ve been waiting for the right moment, this is it. Let’s step into Ruth together. God still works His ordinary ways—one faithful day at a time.

Grace and peace,

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The Anglican is the Substack newsletter for LeaderWorks, where I share insights, encouragement, and practical tools for clergy and lay Christians. I’m also an author of over a dozen books available on Amazon.

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