Among the ingredients for spiritual growth is “godliness” (2 Peter 1:7). What is godliness? What value does godliness have in a Christian’s life?

Let’s continue our monthly series of lessons from 2 Peter 1:5-11 by discussing the most misunderstood ingredient for growth.

Godliness Defined

  • The words “godliness” or “godly” appear around 30 times in the New Testament.
  • One common definition given is “to be like God.” That is a poor definition because every quality mentioned in Peter’s list is designed to help us become more like Christ.
  • Godliness means to live a life of reverence, piety, humility, devotion, and honor towards God. When we revere and respect God, we will honor God in every part of our lives (Titus 2:11-12).
  • Godliness is part of Christian character. It is a manner of life. It is a proper response to the grace and love of God.

Godliness in Our Lives

  • It will impact our thinking.
    • Godliness influenced Joseph to flee from sexual immorality (Genesis 39:8-9).
    • David lacked godliness when having an affair with Bathsheba and murdered her husband (2 Samuel 11:1-17).
    • When we possess godliness, we constantly think about God and what He wants us to do. We will ask, “What does God want me to do? How does God want me to conduct myself in this situation?”
  • It will impact our worship.
  • When we possess godliness, we won’t worship God however we desire. We won’t view worship as a time to be idle and spectators. We won’t just go through the motions.
    • We will worship God according to His pattern and with our whole hearts!
    • God refused to accept the spiritual junk Israel offered Him in worship (Malachi 1:6-9).
  • It will impact our attitude.
  • We will live honorable lives for God when we prosper, and life is going well.
    • We will live honorable lives for God when we begin suffering and going through trials (Job 1:20-22). We will always seek to please God because of what He has accomplished for us through His Son at Calvary.

What should we do?

  • We need to pursue it (1 Timothy 6:10-11). We pursue godliness through reading and studying the word of God (2 Peter 1:3-4).
  • We need to practice it (1 Timothy 2:9-10). We need to make sure that our claim to be God’s people is backed up with godly conduct.
  • We need to value it (1 Timothy 6:6). Godliness has great gain because it benefits us in this life and the life to come (1 Timothy 4:7-8; 2 Peter 3:10-11).

Conclusion:

Are you living a life that honors and shows reverence for God?