18/5/2020 – Growing in Godliness During COVID-19

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Daily-Devotional

Being godly in lockdown is hard.

Some are living with their kids at home 24/7 and missing school, KidsAlive, Youth Group, etc. Some are living by themselves and finding it difficult to flee from temptation. And I hope that everyone is missing regularly meeting with our church family.

How can we possibly grow in godliness at a time like this?

In Titus 1:1, Paul says our knowledge of the truth leads to godliness. Knowing the truth of the Gospel leads to godliness within a Christian’s life. This gives us two ways our godliness can grow during lockdown.

First, we can grow in godliness as we meditate and dwell upon the truth of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

At the heart of sin within anyone’s life is the rejection of God’s good and perfect word. We so often get impatient when we forget God’s patience with us. When we give in to lust or desire when we ignore our new identity in Christ. We can only grow in godliness when we remind ourselves of the truth.

The truth of the Gospel and dwelling upon it in our hearts and minds will help guard us against ungodliness in our day to day lives. God will help you to grow in godliness as you meditate on his word. So spend time in God’s word, read it, let it fill your mind because rather than having it filled with the gunk of this world and the lies of the evil one.

Secondly, we can grow in godliness as we reflect out the truth.

In Colossians 3, Paul tells us to put off the self and to put on Christ. Just as Adam defined our old life, Christ defines our new one. As well as enabling us to be godly, he shows us what godliness means. The more we reflect on his truth in our hearts, the more we reflect out his truth in our lives.

Think about the people in your life. How you could show them the truth about Jesus in your actions this week? If you’re stuck at home with your kids, how could you show them that Jesus is at work in you? How could you serve your Gospel Team as Jesus has served you? How could you model the confidence that Jesus gives you in this crisis to your work colleagues?

Meditate on every aspect of Christ’s amazing character, and think about how you could follow his lead. Because as we’ve seen, growing in godliness is about reflecting on God’s truth in our hearts, and reflecting that God’s truth in our lives.

Prayer of the Day

I kneel before you, my Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. I pray that you may grant me, according to the riches of your glory, to be strengthened with power in my inner being through your Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith. I pray that I might be rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of your love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that I may be filled with all the fullness of you. Now to you, who is able to do above and beyond all that I might ask or think according to the power that works in us — to you be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.