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Being a Godly person

What is a Godly person? Is this a person who lives high on a mountaintop alone, reading the Bible? Must a Godly person be old, praying for hours and never watching TV? Does being holy require that I sit on a hill, play a guitar with my eyes closed, eating birdseed while I write worship songs?

Does being holy demand that I not have a successful business, a nice home or financial security because those are “earthly” possessions? Is holiness determined by what a person owns, drivers or how he looks?

In Psalms 42:1-2, we see that Godliness is something that is beneath the physical surface. Godliness runs deep down, in our attitude towards God Himself. A Godly person is someone who is sensitive towards God and takes Him seriously.

Godliness is not physically visible. “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things human beings look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7).”

Godly individuals possess an attitude of submission to God’s will. Whatever God says goes, and the godly will do whatever it takes to carry God’s will out.

In return, God takes a godly person serious. “But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him (Psa 4:3).”

It is important for us to understand that God does not want us to be religious; He wants us to be Godly. We need to be self-disciplined (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

A great example of this discipline was the apostle Paul. Paul wasn’t playing games with his life. He refused to let his body dictate his objectives, beating it black and blue in order to make it his slave rather than the other way around. Paul’s greatest fear is that he would fall victim of unlived truth in his life and would not take God seriously and be disqualified.

This can happen so easily for Christians today. We are friends with religious people and pick up their language.

Paul rejected this entirely. He refused to be sucked into such a system of rationalization. The Bible says Paul “panted after God” and “thirsted deep within his soul for the truth of God that he might live it.”

Paul was seized by a classic example of a people who had everything and blew it: the Hebrews leaving Egypt (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

The Hebrews had supernatural guidance (a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night), supernatural deliverance (the Red Sea escape), supernatural leadership (God’s man, Moses) and a supernatural diet (manna from heaven and water from the rock).

They were surrounded by privileges; miracles were everyday occurrences. God’s presence was constant and his working was evident. Everywhere there was God-talk. You would think that in this environment, people would flourish.

Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them (1 Corinthians 10:4-12). The Hebrews failed to take God seriously. They craved evil things, were idolatrous, started practicing immorality, were guilty of presumption and were cynical and negative.

Some people say, “This will never happen to me.” However, the Bible says these things happened to the Hebrews as examples and were written down as warnings for us. If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.

 

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