Discipline Yourself for Godliness...

As a preamble to today's meditation, let me say that we call ourselves "Disciples," or followers of Christ.  I choose the word Disciple, because we in some sense get our word for discipline from it.  We are to be disciplining ourselves in spiritual activity, much as a bodybuilder does in physical activity.  There are some reasons why we need to be self-disciplined in the four core Christian activities, and they are discussed briefly and generally below.

1Timothy 4:1  But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

This is one of the most troubling verses of the New Testament to me.  The word in Greek for "fall away" is aphistemi, that is to desert, desist, depart, revolt.  These are all acts of the will, though it may be because of deliberate deception.

1Timothy 4:2  by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 

The word for "hypocrisy" in Greek is hupokrisis, meaning "acting under a feigned part."  This speaks of deliberate deceit on the part of these false teachers.  These people have their conscience seared (to create a state of tissue death that deadens feeling or nerve input).

1Timothy 4:3  men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 

Their doctrines are very specific, too.  In the forbidding of marriage, either as an institution in general, or to forbid specific people to marry (sometimes imposing permission of the teacher or other more draconian conditions), and the teaching of a diet by forbidding specific foods or classes of foods, we see their great error.  Verse 1 names these two specific kinds of teachings as the "doctrines of demons."

In later verses, the Word clearly says that everything created by God is GOOD, and if received with gratitude, thankfulness - then nothing is off limits.

So how does one tell the difference?  Verse 7b says "Discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness."  By exercising ourselves in the four core values of Christian practice found in Acts 2:42 (reading the Word, fellowshipping with God and with other believers, in breaking bread - a specific ordinance of worship, and in prayers) we condition ourselves for the spiritual journey we are on.

Let us be those, who as Paul says in Phillipians 3:14, that press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus!

(All verses are quoted from the New American Standard Bible, 1995)


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"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
-John 8:32 (NASB)