Source of Good Character and Virtue

   Good character is mainly a matter of good habits.  Whether one 
   is speaking of honesty, decency, chastity, consideration for 
   others, unselfishness or whatever, at the bottom it is mostly a 
   matter of habit.  Acquiring good habits, however, requires 
   self-discipline and motivation.  Seriousness about God and 
   religious things can, for example, supply the motivation and 
   with sufficient self-discipline one can rout out and banish all 
   the bad habits and cultivate and nourish all the good habits.  
   Although character --- good or bad --- is largely a matter of 
   habit, underneath it all is one's philosophy, one's views on 
   conduct, life, God, religion, etc..  One must be motivated 
   toward good habits before one can be motivated to embracing 
   them.  One must be able to see that a particular habit is in 
   fact a good one and that another is in fact a bad one before he 
   can be motivated toward the good habits.  If one cannot tell 
   the difference between right and wrong, if he does not have 
   something inside him that tells him what is right and good he 
   cannot acquire good habits and good character.  This is where 
   the importance of seriousness about God and religious things 
   comes in.  If one truly becomes serious about God and religious 
   things the consequence should be that he wishes to turn away 
   from evil and to pursue virtue and goodness and moral right.  
   The first commandment, according to the Bible, is to love God.  
   The real meaning of loving God ought to mean to us loving his 
   precepts, commandments, and values i.e. loving things like 
   honesty, goodness, kindness, morality, chastity, etc. (all 
   those things that he has revealed in his holy word and written 
   into our conscience).  It is in the love and pursuit of 
   goodness, virtue and right that we find the truest and most 
   profound meaning of spirituality.  It is in them that we find 
   the greatest wisdom, the greatest happiness, and the greatest 
   meaning is life.  If we turn to God and set our heart on his 
   ways of Goodness, Virtue and Right our hearts are sensitized 
   and the ways are shown to us.  It is from there that good 
   habits and good character can take root and grow.