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 4:7–8; ESV
Though Paul compares training in godliness to athletic training, there is a major difference. There is no gym or running track for godliness. There is no time to practice apart from actual competition. Sometimes one hears of a famous person in another religion who allegedly spends the night with virgins to test his self-control, but that is not a Christian option (and it wouldn’t build character anyway).
David argued that he was qualified to do battle with the giant Goliath because of his work as a shepherd protecting his flock from lions and bears (1 Samuel 17:32–37). The irony here is that shepherding was a duty imposed on David because he was the youngest son. It wasn’t a great honor or seen as preparation for a great task. When the prophet Eli told Jesse to gather his sons and meet with him, Jesse didn’t even bother to include David but left him with the sheep. Remember, earlier in the Bible, Jacob favored his son Joseph and thus didn’t send him to shepherd the flock. He sent his over brothers to do that work and had Joseph report on them like a overseer (Genesis 37:12-14). David wasn’t considered important and wasn’t given what what was considered a significant job.
Yet not only did he tell Saul that it prepared him to battle a giant but Psalm 78 celebrates his job as a shepherd as preparation to rule as king!
He rejected the tent of Joseph;
Psalm 78:67–72; ESV
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loves.
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to shepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.
With upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand.
So when life seems aggravatingly trivial, don’t increase your dissatisfaction by imagining yourself excelling at “better things.” Pray for better things, but deal with the aggravations as you think God would deal with them if he were in your place under your limitations. Learn and show wisdom in your present circumstances so that God might decide you’re capable of honoring him in “more important” matters. “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men” (Proverbs 22:29). We all stand before God. If we can’t convince ourselves that what is going on in our lives right now is that important, at least know that it is an opportunity to train ourselves in wisdom for some future situation God will give us.
All training in godliness for life is “on the job” training.
People in worse situations that most of us with dimmer prospects for their earthly future have been called to this kind of wisdom:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or is free.
Ephesians 6:5–8 ; ESV corrected.
There is an observation ascribed to G. K. Chesterton that goes as follows: “Man seems to be capable of great virtues but not of small virtues; capable of defying his torturer but not of keeping his temper.” But is this really accurate? We hear about heroic actions in harsh situation because they stand out. But we don’t hear that often of those who fail to show those “great virtues.” Maybe, if more people trained themselves to keep their tempers we would find many more displays of heroism in harsh situations.
Eliza Cook, an English radical in the nineteenth-century once wrote, “A man’s virtue should not be measured by his occasional exertions, but by his ordinary doings” (Diamond Dust). This sounds agreeable the Apostle Paul’s exhortations to Christians to remain faithful in daily Christian life. His attention of our “ordinary doings” sounds like it might make our “occasional exertions” more powerful.
To put it another way, Christian young men are often exhorted to “do hard things.” But people can’t do hard things often or well or with predictable success because that’s just what “hard” means. If you want to do hard things often, well, and successfully you have to train yourself until they feel (relatively) easy. “Train yourself for godliness…”
While one should never use one’s lack of training as an excuse to sin (since neglecting such training is also a sin), Christian behavior is ideally done by a kind of “muscle memory.” Holy living can be stalled by inappropriate demands for mindfulness of God’s glory, gratitude, etc. Imagine teaching someone to drive by mandating certain thoughts or attitudes be present with each use of the gas pedal or the brake.
Consider the Bible’s use of oversleeping as representative of sloth and folly. Think of how the people who have trained themselves to get up in the morning experience their alarm clock blaring in their ears. Do they groan and hit the snooze button? No. They get up. If they’re especially tired they might groan, but they usually don’t even consider the option of sleeping longer. If they think anything about it, they resolve to get to bed earlier or get a nap when possible. They don’t struggle as untrained sleepers do.
The Apostle John writes, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). And for those who learned the wisdom of “love not sleep” (Proverbs 20:13), the alarm clock is not burdensome.
They have become stronger in the daily warfare of life by being trained.