Training in godliness
In the past few months, I have become more regular with working on my physical fitness. I have managed to fit a few different exercise sessions in each week as part of my everyday routines. At the start, it didn’t seem like much had changed. Starting something new meant that my muscles that were used to not doing much suddenly had to work, and they were a little sore. Yet, after a while, I could up my intensity and weight levels. I noticed that I had more energy and less sore muscles from everyday living. It’s still a work in progress, but I am slowly becoming fitter and stronger, and the benefits are noticeable.
All of this reminded me of this passage from 1 Timothy:
7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
(1 Tim. 4:7-9 ESV)
Strength training is not something that has immediate results; it would be foolish to do one exercise session and the look into a mirror to see if your muscle definition has changed! Likewise, training in godliness can be slow work. Results might not be seen quickly, but over time, godly habits will change your life in many ways.
‘Godliness’ is a bit of a strange word. It doesn’t mean that we get superpowers! No, it means that we grow to be more like God’s character: slow to anger, merciful, patient, and all of the fruit of the Spirit.
Growing in these things has value not only in this life, but also in the life to come. Your working on godliness means you are preparing for eternal life with your Father. So much of what we work for in this life will be lost in eternity, but working on godliness is never wasted.
How do we train ourselves for godliness? Paul goes on after the verses quoted above to include examples. It includes setting examples for others in speech, conduct, and love. It includes being devoted to Scripture and prayer. All of these things require practice (v15), and, over time, progress will be visible to others.
All of us need to train for godliness. It doesn’t matter if you are a new Christian or if you have been a believer for fifty years. All of us need to work on building godly habits of Bible reading and prayer. We need to confess our specific sins and actively work on loving God and others in different ways. We need to meet with other believers.
At times, all of these routines that are part of the Christian life might seem like they are having no impact. They don’t change things immediately. Sometimes we won’t notice the change until others do. They might notice that we are more patient or more encouraging. So keep it up. Work on living in such a way that we are becoming more like Jesus.