There is no shortage of fitness influencers and diet fads that promise to get you in the best shape of your life. All of them have their supporters, testimonies, and apps. Some of them even work! I’m not qualified to assess the merits of any one workout or diet plan. However, nearly all of them agree that three things are important to physical fitness: activity, nutrition, and rest. Activity is the actual exercise that you are doing: weight lifting, athletic training, running, swimming, calisthenics, or whatever. Nutrition is carefully feeding your body good foods and avoiding bad foods, in order to fuel your workouts and promote overall growth and health. Rest means being disciplined to get enough sleep and recuperation time between workouts to allow healing. Whatever exercise program you do, no matter your goals, these three elements all work together.
The Apostle Paul draws a parallel between physical training, which was popular among the Greeks and Romans, and training for godliness in 1 Timothy 4:6-10:
“If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 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. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. “
1 Timothy 4:6-10
Bodily training is of some value. It is wise and honoring to the Lord to be a good steward of your body, promoting health, strength, and longevity so that you can be of service to God, family, and neighbor. Laziness and gluttony bring destruction (Prov 19:15; 23:19-21). But while training bodily certainly has its value, training in godliness is of even greater value. It is beneficial both now and into eternity. It is the primary area we should be at work at, no matter our stage of life or career path.
Training in godliness is hard, but you must do it. Paul calls Timothy to train himself for godliness. No one is going to do it for him. It isn’t automatic. Timothy will have to expend effort. You will too. It is going to take work. Lifting heavy weights is hard. Running one more mile is hard. Growing in godliness is harder. Paul says, “to this end we toil and strive,” speaking of his pursuit of godliness. It is going to hurt if you are going to grow in Christ.
This is not a kind of works righteousness. We are saved by grace through faith apart from works of the law (Rom 3:28). Justification is a free gift, not earned. The process of growing into a mature Christian, however, does require us to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. God has given us a new nature so that we might walk in it (Col 2:6). We are called to walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16), obey his commandments (1 Jn 5:2), walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Col 1:10), and grow to maturity in Christ (Heb 5:14; 1 Cor 14:20; Eph 4:13). These things don’t just happen. We must put forth effort, disciplining our life and habits to make ourselves useful to the Master. All of this by the power, leading, and help of the Holy Spirit.
So what does training in godliness look like? I’ll use the three elements of physical fitness I described earlier: activity, nutrition, and rest.
First, be active in your faith. Faith must be exercised. Obedience to Christ must be done in the real world. Your primary activity is obey all the commands of Christ in daily life. Put into action the wisdom of God and commands of God. Love your neighbor. Make disciples. Forgive others. Repent of sin. Work Hard. Love your spouse. Raise your children in the knowledge and discipline of the Lord. Resist temptation and the devil. Defend the truth. Work hard as for the Lord and not men. Pray. Serve. Evangelize. This takes effort and is the activity element of training in godliness: doing the work God calls us to.
Second, is nutrition. We must be in the word of God daily and in prayer. That is our daily bread that nourishes our souls and transforms our minds. Guided by the Holy Spirit, we are taught what God would have us believe, cherish, and do. This is what gives us the information, vision, and drive to do God’s will. If you are not daily in the Word, you are malnourished. It will affect your ability to practice your faith in daily life. A car won’t run without fuel. An athlete won’t perform well without food. A Christian won’t bear fruit unless ‘trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine’ (1 Tim 4:6).
Third, is rest. This one is easiest. God takes Sabbath seriously. On the Lord’s Day we rest from our physical labor and take time to enjoy and praise God as a congregation of saints. In our training for godliness we must enjoy sabbath and be fed by others in the church. We must remember that while our effort–our toil and labors–are necessary for growth in Christ, they are only a means and not the cause. God is the one who gives us growth. It is God who sanctifies and makes holy. Our training efforts are the means he uses to accomplish this. We should desire such growth and exert all possible effort to make use of the means God has chosen to grow us in godliness, resting in the fact that he is the one doing the real work for us.
Get to training. Get your reps in today. The gains are massive.
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