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A Noble Wife

                A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. (Proverbs 31:10)         

          I have to chuckle. Over the weekend, I spent some time on the Proverbs 31 woman, but I think I skipped this verse. Today, it shows up on Bible.com. Since I don’t have another passage in mind to write about – welcome back to Proverbs 31. And, the key term of the verse is one I’ve wrestled with before: noble.

          What does it mean to you to be noble? What is a noble character? One commentary I checked claimed the term was connected to the idea of virtue, good manners, and culture. As I consider this in connection with the society in which we live, I can’t say I see much emphasis on nobility. Today’s women are being taught to be vicious, not virtuous, and nasty, not noble. They insist that they should have a right to dress however they want, and that men aren’t to look. They wear vagina hats and proclaim everything that suggests masculinity in men to be toxic, but in women to be proper.

          Now, I can’t say that I’m noble, either. I may not follow the example practiced in our society, but I feel like I’m in Romans 7. What I want to do is be noble Dr. Jeckyl, but after maybe three seconds, I trip over my tongue or feet, twitch violently and become Ms. Hyde. And yes, as I’ve said before, part of my problem is that I do not have the detachment to judge whether or not I’m noble. I’m too close and tend to see myself in a negative light, so I may be more the Dr. Jeckyl than the Ms. Hyde, but not in my own eyes.

          This may be the problem you’re facing, too. You may think this person or that is noble, but you tend to see them at their best, and yourself at your worst. More importantly, we need to keep in mind that nobility can be learned. If you aren’t noble now, you can move in that direction. And the key is to practice when the going isn’t rough.

          Today, what comes to mind is that being noble involves lending your strength to others (being kind) as if that kindness costs you too little to notice, while at the same time, not allowing someone else’s lack of nobility to influence your behavior. While nobleness responds to the needs of others, it does not relax its standards even if it doesn’t apply them to someone else.

 

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