Remember when you first asked Jesus to come into your heart? You were all fired up-sold out for the King. Life happened, and somehow that fire has burned out. Or maybe the fire is still there but not as red hot as it used to be. Oh, but don’t get me wrong… there’s been some change, some growth, and blessing. But you know there has to be more-something has got to give. From time to time you have met other Christians whose lives are different. They talk the talk and walk the walk. You think to yourself, “Somehow they must have found the answer.” You still have the same God, the same Bible, and the same power available as they do. Yet there is a profound difference between you and them.
You may hear a sermon, listen to a tape, read a book, or whatever… something inspires you. You want to be more godly. You want to do the right thing; yet you so rarely achieve it. So what’s the problem? I think too many well meaning Christians want instant godliness. Sorry, but there’s no such thing. The world has made many things for us that are instant and very convenient. The problem is that some of us want a simple three step guide to godliness, and we’ll take them next Friday and be godly. It doesn’t work that way.
“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.”
1 Timothy 4: 7
Paul is telling Timothy to “train” himself. Discipline… Discipline… Discipline… that’s the key! We hardly hear that word anymore. And yet, there’s no other way to attain godliness. You must learn to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. The godly person leads a life that reflects God. As Christians, our lives must please God by being, thinking, doing, saying, and feeling the way that He wants us to; that is our goal. I’ll be the first to say that discipline is sometimes H-A-R-D, but if we want to learn discipline, we first have to learn patience. There’s that dreaded “P” word again!
When you are focused on being godly, you’ll find that reaching that goal is constantly on your mind. If you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, you must want that. Experience tells me about inevitable times when we get discouraged, tired, or even mad… and we can be taken off course or lose sight of attaining our goal of godliness. We can even rebel against it! But if you’re a genuine believer in Christ, He’ll bring you back. Deep down in your heart, the desire for holiness trickles back. And then you can say like David…
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” Psalm 42: 1
I think next time we’ll delve deeper in being godly through discipline. So stay tuned 🙂