It’s Hard to be Godly

Whew! What a relief. Even the Apostle Paul admitted it took work to be a godly person.

In 1 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul says, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales rather train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

Did Paul just give us a hall pass to quit going to the gym? Not exactly, but what he is saying is that being godly takes discipline, just like keeping in shape.

Paul goes on to say he’s learned to trust this concept and that’s why he’s labored and strived to be a godly man. The Greek word for “labor” also means “to grow weary.” In the Greek, “to strive” means to “fight or struggle,” so if you put it together, to be godly, it’s a fight and struggle and you do it until you grow weary.

Why is it a fight? Why is it a struggle?

In this world there will always be distractions and obstacles that try to prevent us from growing in our faith. I think of a boxing bout. When we’re in the ring, to survive, we have to fight and find ways to ward off our opponent. Just standing in the ring with our gloves down results in a very short battle and a broken nose. In order to be victorious, we have to go the twelve rounds, and that takes calculated moves and study. We have to know our opponent’s tactics and we have to be in shape to go the distance.

On this side of Heaven, we have an enemy who is constantly trying to take us down for the count. Only training will prevent us from succumbing.

No, it’s not easy to be godly. It’s a discipline of staying in the Word, remaining connected to God in prayer and worshipping with other believers. We have to eliminate the distractions in order to remain connected to God.

Later in Colossians 3:12, Paul says “Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” When we clothe ourselves, it means we don’t naturally have them. We have to literally put them on. Paul is telling us we have to choose godliness. We are not naturally compassionate, kind, humble, gentle or patient. We have to take these attributes out of our spiritual closet and wear them every day.

So now that we know godliness doesn’t come easy, here’s a suggestion for a daily prayer: “Lord, through your strength, enable us to be godly people today. Help us to wear compassion, kindness, humility gentleness and patience. We desperately want to be like you, so show us the ways we can train ourselves to follow your example of love. In Jesus’ name AMEN. (LBW)