Dads: Day Twenty
I have been working on a little devotional for fathers and thought I might share some of it with you from time to time. I know I need it!--“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:7,8What do you want most?That’s an important question to ask yourself as a father. There are a lot of things to want out there. You are going to have to make choices. Choosing one thing, means not choosing another. 'If I do this, I can’t do that.' And so you have to choose between your wants. You always are choosing between your wants. You want to do this, but you want to do this more. And what you want most is going to be the way you end up making the decision. What you want, what you really want, is what you most often do.People are funny. Because, you know, we do something and we are like, I don’t know why I did that. But you know why you did that! You did that because you wanted to.The problem is we often want what we should.It’s like we are wanting machines. We are constantly wanting, wanting, wanting. And that wanting machine is broken in all of us. So we are constantly wanting the wrong things or we are wanting the right things the wrong way. We are broken people. We’ve got all these problems with our wants. And what makes it worse is, we’ve got this whole world out there telling us to want all the wrong things as well.So, we absolutely have to stop and think about what we want.We have to ask ourselves, what do we want most? More importantly we need to ask God, what should I want? Because, God is not broken. God knows what you should want. And God does want something for your life. He has a path He wants you to follow. What does God want you to want?It's not complicated.Godliness. If you think of your life like a table, and everything you have got to do is on that table. Go to school. Make money. Eat. And, someone tells you that you have to take everything off the table, except for one thing. The one thing that matters most.It is to be godly.As Paul talks to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4, he urges him, ‘train yourself for godliness.’ Now, Paul loved Timothy. They had a relationship like father and son, and so obviously he wanted what was best for him, and what was best for him, and for us isn’t complicated. It’s to be godly.I like how one pastor paraphrases Paul’s exhortation. He says, “You will do the thing of greatest value, if with all your zeal and ability, you devote yourself to godliness alone.”Alone!He explains, “Godliness is the beginning, middle and end of Christian living, and where it is complete, there is nothing lacking.”Godliness is the one thing that changes everything.Think about that. Imagine being able to choose ONE THING to pursue as a father that you could be sure would have a positive impact on absolutely everything else in your life?How important would that one thing be?It’s kind of obvious. It would be essential! In the Scriptures we do find one thing God promises will change everything. It’s not money.I am sure getting more money is nice, it can have a positive impact, but you can’t guarantee more money will have a positive impact on EVERYTHING else. It might even make some things worse. It’s not education. It’s great to get a degree. Go for it. But, you can’t guarantee getting a degree will have a positive impact on everything else. There are lots of people with degrees, that are really not doing well. The one thing is godliness. If you are godly it will have a positive impact on your finances. It will have a positive impact on your family. It will have a positive impact on your attitude. It will have a positive impact on your choices. Godliness is literally good for everything. It has value in every way, so says Paul, and that’s something you need to know and FEEL. Because, all the explanation in the world about what godliness is, isn’t going to change you unless, you WANT godliness.Do you want it? Do you want to be godly? If so, prove it. What in your life right now demonstrates the value you put on becoming godly?Take Time to Reflect:
What do you want most?
What do your decisions say about what you actually want most?
Practical Suggestion:Get out a piece of paper and see if you can write down five reasons why godliness is worth sacrificing for. Then write down one way you can pursue godliness this week.