The dictionary defines the word Godliness as  “the quality or practice of conforming to the laws and wishes of God”. Does this definition describe your life as a Christian or does it sound like something that is unattainable? Can Christians actually live their lives being godly people? or are we just confirming to this world and its laws and living according to our own wishes?

1 Timothy 4:7- 8  says, “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.”  According to this verse, godliness is something that we must train to achieve because it is not something that comes naturally to all Christians. The natural tendency for all of us is to sin and break the laws of God. 1 John 1:8 says “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” No one in this world can say they are perfect and live a life without any sin. Only Jesus Christ can say that because he has lived a life that was perfect and without sin in this world. So if anyone out there claims to be without sin just know that they are deceiving themselves.

So back to the question of attaining the state of godliness if we are all inherently capable of sinning and cannot live without sinning in our lives how can we attain godliness? For that, we just need to turn to the answer in 2 Peter 1:3-8 “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

There is a lot going on in these verses but basically, the gist of it is this. To live a godly life one must trust in the divine power of Jesus Christ to change and transform our minds and our lives. We must strive our best to reach out to Jesus Christ and ask him for help to live according to his will. This is something we must train to do every day. It is not something that we can achieve just by saying we trust and believe in Jesus Christ. It is something that takes time and effort and sometimes might take a lifetime for some of us to achieve but the important thing is to keep trying so that we do not become ineffective and unproductive in our spiritual walk with Jesus Christ.

If we do the right things as Christians which is to keep praying, reading the bible, and confessing our sins to Jesus Christ then slowly but surely we will start walking in the ways of God. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”  We can only strive for godliness when we walk by faith in our lives. That is the only way. No Christian becomes a godly person overnight. It is something that takes time, effort, perseverance, and most of all faith. Faith in Jesus Christ! Only Jesus Christ can make us into a godly person and only by clinging to Christ do we have a remote chance of living a godly life in this world.