Training Yourself for Godliness
1 Timothy 4:7b-8, Luke 22:39
When we reflect on 2023, what were our plans for the year? Were we able to accomplish the visions and goals that we set out to do? Many of us may have planned to study more, pray more, perhaps lose weight, exercise, eat healthier, cook more at home or find new hobbies. However, when we look back, did we accomplish these goals? Many times, although we plan and mean well, we don’t accomplish our goals. Having plans and goals are good but if we do not have the devotion to carry them out, we will not experience change in our lives. PD shared that he had a specific goal to not just read more but to listen to an audio book every week. To solidify his commitment, he paid $79 for an app with a plan to listen to 52 books a year, but in the end, was only able to complete 2 books.
We often return with a strong conviction after an experience or an event like New Years, or after a retreat, or after a strong message. However, often, we do not come out changed due to our lack of devotion. Experiences are temporal and disappear over time. What does not change and are lasting are our habits. Our habits can become our attitude, which can build our character, and our character can tell us who we are. Simply put, we need to build better habits.
In 1 Timothy 4:7b-8, Paul sends a letter to Timothy. The letter says that we should have a goal of having godliness in our lives. What is godliness? According to 1 Timothy 3:16, godliness is Jesus Christ. It is not just something but Jesus Christ himself. For us to have godliness is to be more like Jesus Christ by resembling Him in his character, his heart, and his life. We need to make it a goal to have this godliness. Paul says that having this character has greater value than anything we can experience in this world, not just in the next life but in this life as well. This is something we must experience first-hand and train ourselves for godliness or we will never know.
How do we achieve godliness then? Similar to our goals, it will never be attained without training and with training means exercise. We must workout which is difficult and rigorous and be trained for godliness. In a practical sense, we must train by building habits like Jesus. Luke 22:39 shows that Jesus spent intentional time with God everyday by going to the Mount of Olives to pray. Despite his busy life, being surrounded by people and his disciples, he still had intentional time set aside for God alone. If we want to be like Jesus, we should also train our spiritual body by reflecting on how we are now. While it may be a goal to have daily devotional time and prayer, we should reflect on how we are spiritual to build our spiritual disciplines and start where we are at. If we have not been able to consistently, we should start slowly, even as infrequently as once a week and increase incrementally until we can build a healthy habit and workout our spiritual muscles for godliness.
Reflection Questions:
What were your main takeaways from this week’s message?
Where are you at currently in your spiritual walk?3. How can you train yourself for godliness in 2024?
