Godliness #1—Profitable Godliness

Godliness

God loves godly living because he is the center of its focus. We live in a godly way when we order both the form and substance of our existence so that everything accords with God’s intention to manifest his glory to and through human beings. Jesus did it, and he calls us to follow him in his lifestyle of allegiance to the Father. Godliness has both form and power so that our efforts to represent our Creator succeed. Considering the promises in this series will help us fine tune our faith for those times when we need to make a concerted effort to mimic our Master and keep up with our Trainer—who, in both cases, is Jesus.

Train yourself toward godliness; for training the body results in limited profit, but godliness is profitable in every way, in that it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:7–8

The term “profitable” sounds like a distinctly secular, 21st century concept. But God has used it for more than twenty centuries to motivate us to live in a way that reflects his goodness for the benefit of our neighbors. God challenged Israel with the question: “Has a nation changed gods, when they were not gods? But my people have substituted what makes them glorious for that which does not profit.” Godliness is profitable for us because the God of the Bible makes himself profitable for his people. He is the only deity “who works for those who wait for him.” Because he is self-generating and self-sustaining, as well as perfectly wise and powerful, he is able to offer benefits that are both temporal and eternal. Thus he acts as a supernatural being for us while we’re alive and then when we’re dead. Therefore disciplining ourselves according to his design is worth the effort. When we train ourselves to expend our God-given energy for the benefit of our communities everyone profits. Establishing priorities for using our time and money in a way that honors God is profitable. Training ourselves to be habitual in prayer is profitable. Committing ourselves to regular, spirited worship is profitable. Taking public stands for the truth and evaluating the effectiveness of such encounters is profitable. Intervening on behalf of the oppressed is profitable. “Faith working itself out in love avails everything.”

Almighty, dependable, gracious God, my purpose is to live in a godly way. Through your Spirit turn my resolve into results, for Jesus’ sake.