Godliness

READ: Matthew 5:48
THINK: Do you see being like God as a burden or something to strive for? Why?
PRAY: For our team as we seek to move along a path of maturity.

We have considered the good of others, filled ourselves up with knowledge, controlled our actions as to follow through on what we've learned, and then persevered even when things get difficult.

And now we are to have godliness.

The word godliness comes come the Greek word eusebeia, which literally means reverence toward God. Reverence meaning to place as the number one priority. In other words, this "godliness" is that in all things, behaving like God is the number one priority.

This has many different applications to it. It has as many applications as there are characteristics of our Lord. For example, one of God's great characteristics is giving. Our Lord is eternally generous. Therefore, in all situations, we are to be generous and giving. For example, a JV player needs assistance on their serve. We are to be generous and giving with our time, stop and help them. For example, we are unsure of a line call. We are to be generous and giving to our opponent. For example, a teammate runs out of money for food at team camp, we are to be generous and giving with our help, and money, if possible.

God has more awesome characteristics as well. God is love. God is hope. God is peace. God acts on behalf of the weak. God speaks truth and honesty. God is love. These and more are part of the process of godliness, reflecting these values.

Hopefully, as we have gone through this maturity process, we have gained knowledge of what the Lord is like. Hopefully, as we have learned to control ourselves, these values and characteristics are things that we have learned to practice. Hopefully, as we have gone through trials and difficulties, these actions have been practiced even when not its not easy. Hopefully, then godliness is something that begins to flow naturally from us.

We begin to forgive others when they get on nerves instead of reacting in spite. We give our time and energy to the best player and to the worst player. We react to losses with hope instead of desperation. These are just a few ways that we might see ourselves placing God as a number one priority.

The more we get to know God, the more we practice his values with thought and intention, through the rough spots, then the more it becomes our character. We then become defined by godliness.

Christian simply means "little Christ." Each one of us bears that because of the school we have chosen.

We will be like Christ this season, as we learn to let the very nature of Christ define who we are and how we react.