The Challenge of Godliness

Here’s an interesting question to ask yourselves: If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

That’s the question we were asked this Sunday at church. As part of our New Testament Challenge, we looked at the challenge of godliness. Godliness is God’s goal for us. If we aren’t pursuing it, we’ll miss everything God has in store for us.

1 Timothy 4:7-8 tells us we must exercise ourselves towards godliness. Being godly isn’t achieved by osmosis. Godliness is the lifelong process of becoming more like Jesus. It involves our words, our actions, our thoughts and our practices.

Pastor Bob went over 4 activities for living a godly life. They are:

#1 – I need to permit God to mold me.

God wants me to be open to being molded into the person He wants me to be. Romans 12:2 tells us not to “be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. God’s will is always accomplished; whether we do it the easy way (God’s) or the hard way (our own) is up to us. How do I allow myself to be transformed by God? I need to change my worldly view. How? By changing my input. What’s going into my mind and my heart? Am I allowing myself to be influenced by others opinions, or by God’s word? Philippians 4:8-9 says, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” It’s important to evaluate whether the things we put into our minds and hearts (and consequently into the minds and hearts of our children) follow along these lines.

#2 – I need to protect myself from ungodliness.

It’s been said that we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. Look at those 5. Are they what you want to be associated with? 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits”. We want to always be guarded against walking with fools and becoming like them (Proverbs 13:20). Jesus told us to take a radical approach to sin: “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” (Matthew 5:29). Does this mean Christians should walk around with just one eye, pirate style? No, it means we must create safeguards in our lives to prevent making bad choices. Television isn’t a bad thing, but are we spending more time in front of the idiot box than with our bible? The internet has great resources; are we online seeking to get closer to God, or going into websites that we wouldn’t want anyone to know we visit?

#3 – I need to pursue godly activities.

How do I accomplish this? By getting to know Jesus better, through prayer, fellowship, bible reading, serving, giving, all these forms of worship. We can attain this relationship with Jesus through His divine power (2 Peter 1:3).

#4 – I need to plan times of evaluation.

Okay, so I’m allowing God to mold me, protecting myself from ungodliness and pursuing godly activities. Done, right? Wrong. We’re told that experience is the best teacher; in truth evaluated experience is the best teacher. Think of all the people who continue making the same mistakes over and over again. We need to slow down and ask God if He’s pleased with the road we’re taking. 2 Corinthians 13:5 – “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified.” I know I never want to be disqualified. We need to take the time to see where we are in our walk with God, always looking for ways to improve and draw closer to Him.

Let’s face it, godliness is a spiritual endeavor; we cannot do it with human strength. It takes discipline, reaching out to our Savior, and seeking godliness with our whole heart.

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” – Titus 2:11-13.

So I ask you, if you were arrested today for being a Christian, would you be guilty? I hope we can all hold our heads up high and scream, “Yes, Guilty!”