Imagine you can’t play the piano and I asked you to play Amazing Grace. Would it be easy or hard? Would it help if you tried really, really hard to play Amazing Grace?
This is how many people try to live the Christian life. They hear a sermon on gratefulness. They try really hard to be grateful. They do this for a few hours or a few days. Then, they forget about it. Life gets in the way. Then, they are left with a nagging feeling of guilt about how they are not as grateful as they would like to be.
Next week they hear a sermon on service. They try really hard to serve… for a few hours. Then they forget about it. Again, they have a life. They don’t rebel against God or the idea of serving, they just forget about it and go on with life. But again, they are left with a nagging sense of guilt about not serving as they ought.
The next week they hear a sermon on prayer. Same thing.
There is a better way. (I owe my insight into this verse to John Ortberg. I think he got it from Dallas Willard.) Here is the key verse:
Train yourself to be godly. 1 Timothy 4:7 (NIV2011)
Let’s go back to the piano. Instead of trying really hard to play Amazing Grace, what if you trained yourself to play Amazing Grace? What would that look like?
Learn to train yourself to be godly along with some friends using this interactive study. If you can read 20 questions, you can lead a group.
