DaySpring Daily Word of Inspiration: 1 Timothy 4:8 – For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
Our devotional today has major significance in the fact that it speaks to the truth about our lives here on earth and our after-lives. Some feel that it’s more important to concentrate on how to be physically fit; that is to make the body look, perform and stay at optimum design for as long as possible. Now obviously, it is of some value and importance to be in good health, be physically in shape, and to monitoring eating habits. This is to help sustain a life void of many problems and complications. But what’s the reality? We will all get sick. We will all get weak. We won’t always treat ourselves the best with what we put in our bodies or what we put our bodies through. Inevitably, we will all die. These bodies, as well maintained as you may want to keep them, will get old, wrinkled, weak, bruised, broken, and eventually will return to the dust.
Now let’s examine the scripture a bit further. We’ve seen how for life, having some physical training in your life is valuable. It may even prolong your life but the end result is the same for everyone. It will not sustain your life. However, once we go a little further we that there is something that has value worth investing into. The scripture points us to godliness and it having value in all things (not just for now, but for eternity). What an investment choice and it comes with a retirement plan! Well how does that look? When we invest in living this life building up our godliness by God’s commands; taking on the very nature of God – speaking like him, loving like him, meeting needs like him, conducting ourselves like him, living blamelessly like him, denying ourselves from the temptations of sin like him, and leading others to Jesus Christ like him, we are creating something of such greater value and the beauty of it is that it will last in this life and the life to come. Being made better by God’s standard is much more valuable and has great lasting power than anything we could work on in our lives. What we genuinely (from our hearts) do for God based on his Word will never fade, get old, wrinkle, be broken or bruised nor will it ever be insignificant. It will never shrivel up and die but will last the test of time even until eternity – oh yeah, and it’s a promise. We all know how good God is at keeping those!
Today we want to help us all get back on track with investing in things that are no-brainers and only get better (increase) over time and to stop continuing to waste our time, energy and efforts in investing in that which is decreasing in value every day! It is good to be in the best bodily health possible but what good is it in the end if your soul has to be destroyed for lack of any value? God’s word holds value for us all. As we invest in being more spiritually healthy in it, the more value our souls can have, not just now and in eternity but in God’s eyes! We pray that you begin training more in righteousness which comes with the promises of God more than training to make a decaying body (which you know will pass away) the only thing you valued in your life. Value God’s word, it is the ONLY thing valuable that will stand for eternity. What will you stand with, feting decay or over-appreciating godliness? You decide. Think about it. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!