“Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness”

1 Timothy  4:7 (NASB)

Why does Paul admonish us to discipline ourselves?  The word discipline here literally means to exercise, to repetitiously work towards godliness.  Paul is telling us to make a habit to exercise or practice the things that will embed godliness into our moral character.

In the next verse, 1 Timothy 4:8, we are told that godliness is profitable for this life and the life to come.   Godliness in this life is profitable because we are still in our sinful flesh which is hostile to spiritual things, but through godliness we can overcome our fleshly impulses.  Godliness is profitable for the life to come because it is the process by which we attain to holiness.

The purpose of godliness is the path by which we pursue holiness.  Hebrews 12:14 tells us to pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  Romans 8:29 says that we are called to become conformed to the image of His Son.  So this process of becoming like Jesus is sanctification or the pursuit of holiness.  Now a short disclaimer: in discussing godliness, I am not discounting the role of the Holy Spirit, the divine Hand of providence or the Word of God, just focusing on our role and our response to the call we have as believers to not be passive in our faith, but to run in such a way as to get the prize, to put away the milk of new believers and move on to solid food of scripture, to put away childish thinking and grow to maturity in our faith.  Paul has a lot of analogies for growing and maturing in our faith and these are just a few.

So if the purpose of godliness is to be holy, then what are the things we should be discipline in to grow in godliness towards holiness.  Below is a short list of spiritual disciplines that should be a part of our daily lives.  I expect to elaborate on each one in a separate entry:

1. Study your Bible – the bible has much to say about the Word of God, that it is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path.  Proverbs tells us to plant the word of God in our heart that we may not sin.  We are told to study to show ourselves be approved workmen who are not ashamed accurately handling God’s Word and to always be prepared to give an answer for the hope in us to anyone who asks with gentleness and respect.  Knowing God’s Word is critical and foundational to every other spiritual discipline, so start reading!

2. Pray to God – prayer is a powerful tool for communion with God for guidance in our lives and growth in our faith.  Learning to pray as a spiritual discipline can provide the peace which surpasses all understanding.  This involves unselfish prayer, prayer for the well being of others, pray for the Kingdom of God, prayer for the things that break the heart of God and prayer for the spiritual battle we are engaged in.

3. Worshiping God – worship as a way of life is a spiritual discipline towards Godliness.  This is not necessarily just singing praise songs which I strongly encourage, but recognition of God in every aspect of your life.  Praise for the things you take for granted, praise for the people He has brought into your path, and hardest part, praise for the storm that will bring growth and a stronger faith.  When we thank God, when we praise God, when we submit to God, when we cry out to God, when we sit quietly in solace to listen to God, when we are mindful of His presence in every aspect of our lives, we are then are on a path to worship God with our lives.

4. Serving God – can be done in many ways.  Serving at church in a formal capacity, doing charity work within a structured ministry or individually serving perhaps to you neighbors or family.  Serving God is not about what you do and the outward recognition of others, but it is a condition of your heart and a desire to be a vessel of mercy, a conduit of love for God to express His grace to the world.  Serving God with pure motives from a clean heart is holy service and will keep you out of that line of people on the left in Matthew 25 who also appeared to be serving.

5. Listening to God – is a spiritual discipline that we desire, but can be difficult.  To meditate on His word in addition to reading for learning and edification, can be an eye opening experience in the application of scripture to your life.  Extended times of silence when praying is also a spiritual discipline by which God will speak to us and reveal His will.  Of the five spiritual disciplines here, listening is probably the hardest because we have to genuinely set aside the clutter in our mind, emotions, experiences, etc.  Sometimes we pray for God’s will in a way that supports what we were going to do anyways; sometimes we pray to justify our behavior; sometimes we ignore the answer because it violates our comfort zone; maybe we pray in a way that allows us to hold on to whatever is holding us back, self sabotage of our move towards godliness. Listening to God can be difficult because we are human and we all have mental and emotional clutter, but it is not impossible.  One thing I will add is that we should not forget that God wants good things for us and His plan for our lives is to do good and not evil, to give us a future and a hope.  When we listen to God, sometimes His blessings can be overwhelming and we ignore the directive because we feel unworthy or lack the humility or humble spirit to accept God’s love however He chooses to manifest it to us.

As I think about that last line, it brings to mind the discipline that we need to take every thought captive and weigh it against God’s Word to the obedience of Christ.  Sometime we need to claim truth because in the middle of exercising spiritual disciplines, there is still a spiritual battle going on for your mind and heart and we have an enemy that wants us to embrace our failures, embrace our fears, doubt ourselves, doubt God and ignore the truth of who we are in Christ.  I think I will talk more about this tomorrow in a short post called ‘Who Am I.’

So I leave you for now with these five spiritual disciplines as you continue your work out in God’s gym!