Wouldn’t it be great if there was a power available to us to help in our pursuit of being godly? We need all the help we can get, right? This daily devotional looks at how disciples of Christ do have a power available to help us change our character to be more like God.
Nuggets
- The reliance on religion alone to appease God is not how He wants us to focus our energies to be godly.
- The pursuit of godliness has to get down to the heart level.
- The power has to be substantial because it is making us godly.
A couple of devotions ago, we talked about the form of godliness. Second Timothy 3: 5 was one of the verses we reviewed because it talks about godliness.
I was intrigued by the phrase the power that can make them godly. So, into the draft folder it went.
My initial thought was it is great to have a power to help us in our quest to be more like God. What does that entail, and how do we tap into it? Let’s see if my questions get answered, or God takes us another way.
Let's Put It into Context
Godliness, equated with the Old Testament term fear of the Lord, is an attitude of reverence that is promoted by walking in His Spirit and obeying God’s laws and commandments and produces a moral likeness of God.
Godliness has a dual form as it should be both an inward and outward expression.
The inward expression of godliness is communion with God. Prayer is a two-way communication with God. Even if we are praying with our mouths, we are praying with our hearts. Our inward expression of godliness also manifests itself in confession, praise, and worship. We have to pursue godliness because of an internal stimulus.
The outward expression is our acts of service for God. Service is an act based on belief in God that comes from a response of worship by acknowledging His power through our submission. This is how the inward expression manifests itself in our lives.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
What Is the Power That Can Make Us Godly?
“They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that” (II Tim. 3: 5 NLT)
The reliance on religion alone to appease God is not how He wants us to focus our energies to be godly. True godliness can only come from an inward relationship with Him bubbling out to an external expression.
Tillotson gave us a good description of what reliance on religion looks like. There is a public profession of faith that includes an enthusiastic response.
But it is just a show — a pretense. Tillotson described it as being a “… means of religion, without regard to the end and effect of it.”
Resource
We want others to think we are mortifying the sin in our lives — but we really aren’t. Mortify means to place a death penalty on our sins.
Glossary
What Tillotson is getting at here is the repentance is not genuine. We really aren’t working out our salvation on the Sanctification Road. True submission to God leads to regeneration.
- Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to changing ourselves through obedience so that we no longer do the wrong things.
- Regeneration is the change in us that God brings about when we go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration, gradually changes our nature through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
Glossary
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
When the repentance isn’t genuine and the regeneration and sanctification isn’t happening, we don’t tap into the power of godliness.
Salvation isn’t achieved because this show does not please God. Salvation is deliverance from evil and the consequences of sins to replace them with good and eternal life.
Glossary
Tillotson gave us a list of how we tap into the power of godliness.
- We have to have a genuine relationship with Him.
- We have to be diligently seeking Him.
- We have to be committed to doing what God calls us to do, beginning with repentance that impacts how we live our lives.
How do we practice a good life? Tillotson told us that, too.
- We are to strive to be pure. Purity means we are without the stain of sin. We do this by modifying our worldly desires, covetousness, and ambition. God calls us to be moderate in everything.
- We don’t let our passions run away with us. We keep our anger, hatred and malice in check. We don’t envy others. We don’t seek revenge.
- We watch our words.
- We strive to have our character defined by virtues, not vices.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Glossary
God isn’t looking at a fake conversion. He isn’t in the fire insurance business. He wants us to truly love Him and want to serve Him in the ways He calls.
Getting Godliness to the Heart Level
The pursuit of godliness has to get down to the heart level. It can’t be mere words.
Spurgeon’s take on religion alone for godliness is slightly different. He warned us about relying on the ordinances of religion.
Ordinances are an expression of the disciples’ obedience. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances.
Performing religious ceremonies – even attending religious services — is not the end all and be all. We have to be performing and attending for the right reason — to grow closer to God.
I love what Spurgeon said. He wrote, “Tongue-godliness is an abomination if the heart be destitute of grace.”
Resource
God isn’t looking for tongue–godliness. He is looking for heart–godliness.
The last thing God wants us to do is to go through the motions of putting on church. He wants us there to worship Him.
Don’t get me wrong. We shouldn’t misread this to think that we don’t have to attend services at our local churches. Don’t look at this as validation that we can worship on our own.
While we can and are supposed to worship individually, God calls us to worship corporately. He wants disciples united in fellowship.
Taylor said something else that was very interesting. Elaine-speak, we can appear to be godly (going though the motions of religion) without being godly. We cannot be godly if we do not have the appearance of being godly.
Resource
Let’s simplify that. We can worship God and appear to be godly but not be. We cannot be godly if we do not worship God.
We can’t expect attendance alone to ensure godliness. We have to let God’s Word into our hearts and change our characters and our lives.
We can’t expect our Mom and Dad’s religion to cover us. We have to choose God for ourselves.
We can’t be forced into religion. We have our own free will to guide us in making the choice to serve the One true God.
But on the flip side, we can’t do without the power. Denying it will get us eternal torment.
How Do Godliness and Righteousness Fit Together?
The power has to be substantial because it is making us godly.
Remember the phrase that started this all was the power that can make them godly. For most of us, that is no easy task.
Birch said that this is important because “… it is a new birth to righteousness, truth, and love.”
Resource
Doesn’t that follow? Righteousness is the result of a solid relationship with God built by a sincere life of conscientious obedience to God’s laws and commandments. If godliness is the attitude of reverence that produces a moral likeness of God, that likeness is righteousness.
Birch made an excellent observation. Godliness is all about growth. It is about changing our characters so that we are more like God.
Oh, but here comes Maclaren expanding that. He wrote, “‘Godliness,’ in the New Testament, means not only the disposition which we call piety, but the conduct which flows from it, and which we may call practical religion.” Piety is defined as the persistent application of moral virtues to our lives.
Resource
Hmmm. Godliness means not only the temperamental makeup that reflect the moral virtues to our lives. But it also is the persistent application where we move godliness from the internal to the external.
It is not only thinking like God but also acting like God. It has to be every aspect of our lives and beings.
We have to turn it all over to God.
Maclaren argued that words alone do not deny the power. It is our actions that deny the power.
I heard it once said that our words are who we want to be. Our actions are who we are. If our words do not match our actions, then our words are just manipulative.
How Do Godliness and Love Fit Together?
Godliness encompasses love of God and our neighbor.
Taylor goes a whole different route. He wrote, “The power of godliness is contained in the love of God and our neighbour.”
Resource
That is understandable. That reflects the two greatest commandments. “Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mk. 12: 29-31 ESV).
Think about it this way.
- The laws and commandments are to show us God’s character.
- God character is love (I Jn. 4: 8),
- Godliness is to produce a moral likeness to God.
- To be like God, we have to have the character of love, which is shown through loving our neighbors.
Making the Connections
So, what is this power we are talking about? Spurgeon said it best when he wrote, “God Himself is the power of godliness. The Holy Spirit is the life and force of it.”
Resource
If we are just going through the motions of religion, God’s power is nowhere to be seen. We can only be godly if God is front and center.
Birch took it a step further. As we grow in godliness, we become the personification of God. Others can see God because we are reflecting His character.
How Do We Apply This?
Fake words and a fake lifestyle won’t make us godly. Only God can make us godly and righteous. To do that, we have to seek God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
We have to be genuine and diligent in wanting to become as He is.
Father God. Our main goal in life is to become more like You. Our priority is seeking You. Thank You that we have a Power available to us to guide us and help us on the Sanctification Road. That Power is You. Amen.
What do you think?
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