TRAIN YOURSELF TO BE GODLY

I Timothy 4:7-8 “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.”

The current life is overly devoted to the here and now. I guess that isn’t too hard to believe considering it’s what we can see, touch, feel, hear and smell every day. We are physical beings. Just think of all the New Year’s resolutions that are tied to our physical well-being. We want to lose weight, we want to workout in the gym more often, we plan to get more sleep, we participate in activities to better our mental well-being. Paul tells Timothy that there is some value in physical training. I agree that we should take care of our bodies, but in the end our bodies are only something that we exist in temporarily. It’s only for the present while we live on this earth and then it is gone.

The real value we should focus on is godliness, because it has value for all things.  It has value for both this life and the life that we will have once we no longer exist in this body.  It will be a value with no end.  Matthew says in 6:19-21 to not store up treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, but store up treasures for yourself in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.

If we concentrate on the physical only, sad to say that will pass when we die.  What we have done with our bodies and the things we have acquired in life will be gone.  But if we put our focus on being godly, we will have acquired something both here on earth and in heaven.  I ask God that He would help me to lose some of my focus on my physical life and to show me the road to godliness through reading His word, through prayer and through the relationships that I build with other Christians.