1 Timothy 4:7-8

But have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness, 8 for the training of the body has a limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

"Train yourself for godliness" is the secret of success.

First of all, "What is training".
1. Training is disciplined effort toward a goal. Willard uses the illustration of running a marathon. If you just get up and try to finish a marathon you'll die trying. But if you enter a disciplined, intentional effort to accomplish the goal, eventually you will achieve it. Similarly with learning a language; you cannot be fluent the first time you hear a language, only INDIRECTLY, through disciplined study will a person learn to be fluent.

2. Training involves pain. The Marines say that "pain is weakness leaving the body." Only by making effort beyond your current 'abilities' (riding over your head) will you be able to be able to ride longer, harder, and better ('it never get's easier, you just get faster.' Greg LeMond). Another saying (I think also by the Marines) is that "The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle." When are you going to experience pain: when you are on your knees before
God, or when you're crying over a missed opportunity? You and I are more sinful than even we ourselves know (certainly more so than we'd like to admit, even to ourselves) so why on earth could we imagine that it wouldn't involve a great amount of pain to become godly?

What is godliness?
1. Holiness
To be holy is to be set apart for that which is God's. Col 3:1-4 is a good summary of what that looks like. If we 'set our hearts on things above' then we are valuing eternal things more than temporal things. Not that we don't see the value of food and clothes, but that we see
their value as less than holiness; thus we will adjust our time spent in procuring clothes and holiness accordingly. If while seeking to earn a living we are faced with the choice of pleasing God or sinning, we will choose what is 'right'.

2. Christ-likeness
To be holy (godly) is to be like Christ (Col 1:15; 2:9; 1 Cor 11:1). How do we do that? Through the power of the Holy Spirit. Through reading His Word (esp the Gospels) so that we know what He is like in the first place. If Christ indeed is God-with-skin-on, the we have been given the most amazing gift possible; we have been allowed to see not only God's loving heart for us, but we have been allowed to see what He wants us to loom like. However, just as a gift to you does not become yours until you use it, so also is this gift useless to you if you do not appropriate it in your life on a daily basis.

3. Sanctification
Sanctification is progressively becoming more and more the person God created you to be. God did not create us to be robots, all doing the same thing (if you haven't read A Wrinkle in Time, that book is a great commentary on this point). God created us uniquely us. Following
hard after Christ (like following hard after a runner in front of you) will make you the best version of you possible (think You 3.0). God loves you exactly as you are; and He loves you too much to let you stay that way.

Praise You Father in Heaven for offering us godliness.
Praise You Son in Heaven for showing us what that looks like.
Praise You Spirit in Heaven for working that godliness in us.

Where do you need to experience pain now so that you will experience godliness later?

Training alongside of you,
Pastor Greg