Train Yourself To Be Godly

If Paul were alive today...he might be referred to as a "Life Coach" or "Spiritual Advisor" or maybe a "Mentor."  All these names would perfectly describe his relationship with Timothy...except that these would infer a self-improvement program....but Paul was running a discipleship school not a personal sports training program. 

In today's times the physical aspects of training are played up in the media with our exaggerated focus on sports.  In Roman times there was a similar focus on physical training.  Paul does not condemn this physical training...instead he says, "For physical training is of some value.."  Then Paul says, "but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

Pauls message to his young student Timothy: 
Godliness pays off now and into eternity!!! Your spiritual nourishment will be on the truth of the gospel.  Stay away from the the logic of the world. Devote yourself to staying in the word and passing it along to others. Devote yourself to godliness...be all in...100%.

Sounds like a coaching pep talk to me.  Sounds like a teacher challenging their prize student to do their best.  Paul was a discipler of men.  He loved his student, Timothy.  He wanted him to "get it".  He wanted him to see the"big picture"...Paul wanted to make sure his mentee mastered these life lessons in following God.  " So why do we train so hard in "godliness?  Answer = "we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God"!  We serve God Almighty...a very sobering reason to take this training seriously.

So let's take a life lesson from one of the best spiritual coaches of all time...let's really listen...and put Paul's sound teaching into practice. These God-inspired lessons "hold promise for both the present life and the life to come."