Bottom line up front: Virtue is its own reward.

Introduction: When I enlisted for active-duty Army in the 1990s, sundry phrases were drilled into my heart and mind in those days and months in Fort Knox, KY. One of those phrases was this: “Right place, right time, right uniform!” Do those fundamental things day in and day out, and that’s a good first step to success in military life. Well, that’s tried-and-true wisdom. Yes, and amen to fundamental principles like that.

But there are other principles which need to be inculcated for all who care to live lives of honor. Why do I say that? Well, lots of folks can show up in the right place, at the right time, and in the right uniform, but they can still be morally rotten people. Good character, or what we might call “honor,” is inextricable from true success. Otherwise, the emperor has no clothes. If someone is a mere shell of leader, discerning people see through the façade.

When I think upon many with whom I have served and continue to serve, certain men invariably rise to the top in my esteem. Were they the strongest in the gym? No. Were they the fastest on the track? No. Were they the coolest? No. But what they all were was men of character, men of honor.

Teaching: That’s what Cicero was driving at when he wrote in one of his aphorisms, “Virtue is its own reward.” It’s a way of saying, “Do the right thing because it’s the right thing. Don’t worry if someone sees you do it. Do it anyway because it’s right.”

Encouragement: The concepts of virtue and honor hinge upon a transcendent principle/law and Lawgiver; otherwise, both concepts are reduced to human sinful opinions where every man does what is right in his own eyes. Moral relativism, in other words. But because God does exist and has revealed Himself in Scripture, we have that transcendent principle/law and Lawgiver. “For I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6a). The half-brother of the Lord Jesus wrote in his epistle that “there is no variation or shadow due to change” with God (James 1:17). God is constant, steadfast, and 100% honor in and of Himself. His very nature is that of holiness and consummate honor.

Takeaway: I learned many wise principles all those many years ago in the beautiful hills of Kentucky, but I learned this one, too, from my wise grandparents: What a man does when he thinks no one’s looking, that reveals his character. Why? Because God’s always looking. Virtue and honor are their own reward. May we be people who cultivate both because we will give an account.