Training for Godliness

In the first lesson of the series, we talk about some basic characteristics that are common to most progressive Christian teachers, and what their implications are for our understanding of God and of the Bible itself.

Be the hero of your own story. That’s kind of how we’re encouraged to look at life today. The idea that if you believe in something strongly enough, if you’re willing to put yourself out there and take risks, you can make things happen in your life - whether it’s in the business world, your relationships, your own sense of well-being. You can achieve your goals, and people are going to see it and acknowledge your success.

The Bible is filled with stories like that - or at least stories that seem to fit that description, and the one that seems to stand out the most is the story of David and Goliath. But I think it’s easy sometimes to miss the message, particularly in a culture where we tend to make everything about “us.”

When we see this story referenced today, particularly in more secular contexts, it tends to focus on self-confidence and trust, not being intimidated just because the obstacle looks imposing. It focuses on the idea of a long-shot winning against the odds. We use this story to explain why tiny colleges often send undermanned teams into a game and upset clearly superior teams with better resources and athletic skill. 

Except there’s more to that story, as any Bible school student will tell you. Because in reality, David isn’t the true hero of this story!

This year, one of the most popular topics of discussion concerns the quality of our political discourse - or the lack thereof. As our election approaches, we watch debates where shouting, name-calling, and interruption take the place of intelligent discussion of policy - or in most cases, we brag about how we DIDN’T watch it. If you’re on social media, it’s almost impossible to escape the bitterness and frustration so many are expressing toward both sides of the political aisle.

And despite whether you were “rooting” for one side or the other, even if you believe that one party is behaving itself in a more seemly manner than the other, most of us seem to come to the same conclusion:

We deserve better.

But it’s worth asking the question: do we really deserve better? If we’re really being honest about ourselves, about our culture, and about how it got this way, the reality is that we’re getting exactly what we deserve. Because when we look to human leadership, seeking deliverance from our troubles from some other person or political group or human ideology or concocted utopian fantasy, this is what we get: flawed leaders pandering to flawed people to give those people what (they believe) they want. 

But what people want - what they believe they deserve - is rarely what they need.

We’ve talked a lot about motivation this year, and clearly that’s one of the greatest challenges to living a life that demands excellence, but doesn’t always provide us with regular progress reports on how we’re doing. One of the biggest issues we often have – just like with physical training is that unless we have a clear-cut goal in front of us with measurable progress points, we may find ourselves wondering if what we’re doing matters at all. Is the work I’m putting in worth it? Am I really better off now than I was when I started?

We understand in physical applications that how other people are training has no impact on my outcome, but we often miss that point in spiritual applications. When people around us aren't living up to the standard, acting hypocritically, worshiping superficially, it sometimes makes us doubt our own level of effort - maybe even provoke us to leave the faith altogether! 

Our responsibilities to grow and serve God don't change based on what anyone else does. Discouragement can catch up to us when we take our eyes off Jesus and start worrying about whether anyone else is doing what they need to do.

No one likes the "workout" guy. The one always decked out in gym clothes, talking about his training, his diet, his routine, and always willing to point out ways that you could get into better shape, too! We know we need to do better, and we sometimes don't like being around the constant reminder of our shortcomings.

But do we let that attitude seep into our lives as disciples? After all, no one likes the person who wears his religion on his sleeve, and Jesus said not to do our works to be seen by men. And we're raised in a culture that tells us religion is best when kept to yourself.

Our challenge is that God calls us to be fanatical in our devotion, in our pursuit of virtue and righteousness, in our desire to do good works in this life. Do we feel compelled to tone that down for the world? Or do we drive ourselves to be that person who lives and breathes the gospel of Christ?

Do you ever have days when you just don't feel like putting in the work? You know that whatever work you put into your training that day is going to be half-hearted and probably not as effective as you'd like. Do you go through the motions? Or do you take a step back or take the day off?

This can be a tricky question in our spiritual lives, because when we try to act in a Christ-like way, but we don't feel Christ-like while doing it, it can feel like we're faking it. And in an age where "being real" is valued and holding back is considered fake, or not being true to yourself, is it ever OK to "fake" our service to God, doing works even when our heart isn't in it??

We have to start from the understanding that doing things God's way, with the right attitude and heart, is never going to be our default setting. As we've pointed out many times on this podcast, Paul described his life as "buffeting his body daily and bringing it under subjection." Paul didn't take the attitude that if things were hard, he needed to take a step back and do a self-care day. or to re-evaluate whether the difficulty was pointing him toward a truer version of himself that he ought to embrace rather than deny. Instead, he fought harder.

So sometimes, we do the work even when we don't feel like it. We treat people kindly when we'd rather be arguing or insulting them. We change our behavior to accommodate the needs of others, even when they don't deserve our consideration. We worship, pray, and study our Bible even when our minds seem rooted in physical things and won't let us wholly focus on God.

It's the practice of "taking every thought captive to obey Christ," as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:5. It is the very essence of training for godliness.

Today's talk is in many ways a message for myself. Because as you may or may not have noticed, we haven't done a podcast in a while. And probably doesn't surprise you to know that podcasts hosts struggle from the same problems that you do, and in many cases when we talk about issues, we're talking to ourselves as much as we are anyone else.

And today is one of those days. Not surprisingly, the topic is procrastination.

If you're like me, it's easy to be overwhelmed by information, instruction, advice, inspiration, warnings, and every other type of motivational messaging tell you what's wrong with your life, what's wrong with society, what's wrong with government... Basically everything is broken, and everything needs to be fixed TODAY! You may be getting stressed just reading this!

What do we do when we feel overwhelmed with choices, with problems to solve, opportunities to chase? We all know the answer, but sometimes we need to be reminded of it: Pick one.

We all understand the importance of accountability and support, but we often don't look for it in our spiritual lives. But spiritual training and growth requires just as much support and encouragement. If we truly want to grow in our faith, it's vital to find an accountability partner that can help us past the difficult stretches and keep us focused on the goal of becoming the person God calls us to be.

In Ephesians 5, Paul writes "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." Since the days seem pretty evil right now, with the coronavirus keeping many of us at home and some of us dangerously sick.

But Paul is talking about a different kind of evil, and it's one that has a particular relevance for us this month as we settle into our homes with everything we need to keep ourselves occupied and comfortable during a quarantine. It might feel as if we have an opportunity to take a "staycation" - but are we also quarantining ourselves from God?

We all understand the phrase "no pain, no gain" in our physical training, or even in other aspects of our lives where we're trying to achieve something. Nothing worth having ever comes easily, or without some sort of pain along the way.

It's harder to accept that when we don't see how our pain is directly linked to that goal. When we find ourselves suffering in our life, we sometimes struggle to explain why we should have to to deal with it, why God would allow it in our lives, and why he won't get rid of it - especially when he promises his children that he will watch over them!

The book of Job deals with this question, but not in the way we often would prefer. We learn that sometimes good people DO suffer, and bad people DO succeed. But even when it seems that God is allowing injustice, the book directs us back to the true cause of all suffering, and that is the problem of sin.

Even if we haven't committed some horrible, grievous atrocity, we've still sinned. And Job calls us to use that as a reminder of our need for a redeemer, and to draw closer to God. God may not relieve our pain on our timeline, but he has promised not to leave us if we'll remain faithful through hardships that should make us stronger throughout our lives.