The Importance of Training

Scripture Verses that caught my attention today: 1 Timothy 4:7b-8 Train yourself in godliness, 8 for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Observation: I’m struck by the “train yourself in godliness” phrase. I’ve written about and considered verse 8 in this passage many times; it was my Confirmation verse after all. But the way the verses are separated in the Bible, I hadn’t really noticed that, grammatically and theologically speaking, the last part of verse 7 goes along with verse 8. It has to do with training.

Application: All three of our kids, if given the opportunity, enjoy watching “The Biggest Loser” on television. Last night I watched the last half of the show with them.

If you haven’t heard, The Biggest Loser is a reality show where severely overweight people are involved in an intense weight-loss competition. The one who “wins” is the one who “loses” the most—in weight and/or percentage of body fat. Helping them along the way are “trainers” who teach them how to exercise, how to eat better and who also get after them when a little extra motivation is needed. It’s all part of the training.

While exercising myself this morning it occurred to me that sometimes we need to get after ourselves in life. At the time I was thinking of exercise and how we can’t always (or perhaps ever) have a personal trainer right there to spur us on, but that we can learn to ‘get after’ ourselves. We can say to ourselves “Let’s DO THIS!” and get after it.

After reading the Bible passage above it occurs to me that this is also true in other areas of life and, according to First Timothy, particularly in faith or, as the author puts it, “godliness.” It’s not necessarily that we can make ourselves more godly. From a Lutheran perspective it is the Holy Spirit that works in us to lead us in such a way. But we can intentionally put ourselves in positions of openness to the Spirit’s work/influence. And we can do so in some very simple ways, one of which I just heard for the first time last night.

“Good evening Lord. How’s it going?” That’s how a member in our congregation began her prayer last night. I thought it was a brilliant insight to actually ask God how it’s going. We always give lip service to prayer being a two-way conversation, but usually from the standpoint of us asking for help and God giving it. It had never occurred to me to attempt to think of things from God’s point of view. To consider whether God might like to say, “well, actually, it’s been a rough day…” Somehow that simple question sheds a whole new light on that most basic of godliness-training staples—prayer. At so, let the ‘training’ begin.

Prayer: Lord, how is it going? How can we be of better help? In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(readings today included: 1 Timothy 1-4)