Training For Godliness

Recently, Billy Swan gave a sermon about needing intimacy with God and how we must train ourselves in our spiritual lives with the intentionality that we would train ourselves for a triathlon or a marathon.  I was training for a marathon at the time so I was very interested in this line of thinking.  I had to ask myself two questions.  The first was:  Why should I bother training that hard for my spiritual life, and what was the goal?  Paul says our goal is to know Christ, to be like Christ and to be all that Christ has prepared us to be. 

Philippians 3:8-9a says,

"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him." 

Later on in that same chapter, verses 13 and 14, he says,

 "No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing:  Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."

              When I first decided to run a marathon I went online and printed out a marathon training calendar.  It had on it what I needed to run each day.  So if the calendar said to run 5 miles, I ran 5 miles.  Then I realized there was much more to it.  As my runs got longer, I had to stretch more, get more rest, rub my legs down each night, drink more water, and eat better.  I had to start cutting out what was not good for me (like when I ate a bunch of brownies for dinner and then tried to run 6 miles the next morning - Ugh!).  When I did, 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 started to have much more meaning to it: 

            “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

             And I thought to myself, as I was getting up to leave church that Sunday, that I care a lot more about my spiritual condition than my marathon training, so why wasn't I being as intentional about training to know Christ better and be like Christ and pressing on to reach the end of the race and receive my heavenly prize?  Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:7b-8,10, "Instead, train yourself to be godly.  Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.  This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers." 

                So the second question I asked myself was, What does it look like to train to be godly?  Praying three times a day on my knees like Daniel did kept coming to my mind and I wanted to write it on a calendar like my marathon training.  But then I thought, is that being too legalistic?  I don't think so.  I am allowed to train my physical body that way to achieve a goal but not my spiritual body?!  John Piper said in reference to this topic, "Could it be that discipline is not the boring substitute for spontaneity and power but the garden where it grows. You till the garden with patient discipline and suddenly God makes a plant grow with supernatural power."  And we have amazing supernatural power available to us for God has given us His spirit "of power, love, and self-discipline" (I Timothy 1:7). The same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead can certainly help us train and follow hard after God!

             With the single-mindedness of an athlete in training, we must forsake anything that is holding us back and press on in our race to know Christ and be like Him.  What can you stop doing that is holding you back in your race to be like Christ?  What can you start doing to know and love Him more?

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Personal Reflection or Discussion Questions

What would my day look like if I were intentionally training to be godly? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What behaviors can I stop doing that is holding me back in my race to be like Christ? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What behaviors can I start doing to know and love Him more? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Prayer: Reflecting specifically on this devotional, write out a prayer to God. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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