Are You Training?

1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV)

8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

If I was to ask you what you thought of when I said the word training you would probably think of any number of various sports athletes regardless of what sport they played. You might of thought of learning a new job function at your place of employment or maybe even going through boot camp in the military. My guess though is that you may have forgotten about the verse above.

Take a minute to reread that verse.

We read above that physical training is of some value, but training for godliness has value for ALL things.

This makes me wonder how hard are we Christians training for Godliness?

Are we reading and studying the Bible as though we wanted to win the Super Bowl?

Are we hitting our knees and praying to God as though we had to produce at least 4 wins to take the world series?

Why is it that it makes sense to train for physical strength but when we talk about training for godliness we draw a blank?

No doubt the culture we live in would completely have us do away with any shred of godliness so is that the answer?

If it is you might ask yourself, "just how much am I allowing the culture I live in affect my spiritual walk?"

My prayer is that we as Christians would start seeing what we really need to be training for. Godliness. Godliness in every way, shape and form. Anything that is going to improve our walk with the Lord.

Why is it so important?

Because just like the various athletes I mentioned above we have spectators too.

Our spectators get motivated or discouraged just like any spectator who watches their favorite team when they are having a good or bad season. But the biggest difference is this: our spectators are playing the game with us. They will have to choose to train for godliness or not to train at all, and by watching us they will either be motivated to join the winning team or influenced to stay on the bench.

How hard are you training?