Train

December 14th

Today's Bible Reading

Train yourself

1 Timothy 4:7-8

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 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.

Discipleship requires discipline. Growing as a disciple is not automatic. Godliness is not a given. It takes daily dedication and discipline to grow into a flourishing follower of Jesus. Focus and faithfulness are keys to becoming a mature believer. Growing in our faith requires commitment and consistency. Daily times for training in godliness. Deciding to be disciplined. Dedicated to discipleship. A determined disciple. 

Yet discipline without a clear direction leads to drudgery. A goal is essential for effective training. We have something to head toward. Aim is the key to spiritual advancement. Someone rightly said, “If you aim at nothing, you will probably attain it.”   Without an objective or a goal, you will likely become frustrated and eventually forsake our pursuit. You might start strong but in evidently stall alone the way and ultimately stop. 

Our text sets forth a clear objective for the Christian. It sets forth the direction for the disciple of Jesus. Godliness is our goal. Christlikeness is to be our life’s quest. Our aim should be to be like Jesus. We should seek to have the attitude that He had and act as he did.  We are to have the mind and mannerisms of Christ.

To accomplish this, our text outlines what we are to do. As with any physical training, we are to lay aside certain things and adhere to specific regiments. We are told to have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. We are to distance ourselves from anything that would lead us away from godliness. We are to avoid becoming intwined in following something that would guarantee a quick spiritual fix or some quirky notion that promises super spirituality but is contrary to the teaching of Jesus. We all have tried the “easy” and “fast” way to diet or get healthy only to discover that it eventually faulters and fails.  We can’t allow ourselves to get sucked into the silly myth that mature disciples develop in a day.

In addition we are told that if you want to become godly you must train yourself for godliness. We have to make a decision to train ourselves. We don’t automatically become spiritual mature without putting in the effort to achieve maturity. We must determine daily to be proactive in engaging in various spiritual disciplines. We need to saturate our soul with scripture, silence our thoughts in meditation, stimulate our minds with scripture memory and still ourselves with supplication to grow in godliness. Without these we cannot flourish in our faith. 

Finally, our text presents the product of our efforts. Our training conforms us into the image of Christ. It’s profits supersede the benefits of physical exercise, which is valuable in this life. But, spiritual exercise is beneficial for this life and the one to come. So take every measure to gain godliness. It has eternal benefits.  

Today commit to begin or continue your soul training. As the year ends and a new one begins develop a daily plan for your spiritual grow for the coming year. Ask the Lord to empower you and enable you to contine on your quest to disipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.