Godliness
I have been reading the second epistle of Peter, in the first chapter there is a list of what Peter called qualities. One that caught my attention was godliness. I thought that was interesting, I wonder what godliness is? I looked it up in my dictionary and it said very little about it, but somehow I felt this is important. I remember from somewhere in the past a quotation, “cleanliness is next to godliness” and as I thought about this I realized if you think of cleanliness as referring to purity; godliness is purity, in our thoughts, our speech and in our actions.
I then asked myself the question; “Do I know anyone that is godly?” I came up with a blank. I know people that are trying to be godly or think they are godly, but I didn’t think they were godly.
I then began to ask other people, “Do you know anyone that you consider to be godly? Most people did not have an answer right away, but they started thinking about it. Some of the responses were, “I have never thought about it”.
If they did come up with an answer, my next question was, “Why do you consider them godly? One of the responses that began to give me a little understanding was from a lady bartender as I was having lunch one afternoon. I asked her the question, “Do you know anyone that you consider to be godly?” she answered very quickly. “Yes I know two people, one of them is my grandmother.” I then asked her, “Why do you consider her to be godly?” Her reply was, “Because of the way she lives her life.”
This gave me a new understanding of what godliness is. We can be godly in some ways and ungodly in others ways. People can see godliness in us. They may not recognize it as godliness, but they still see it.
Do you consider yourself to be godly?
I asked Pauline the question; “Do you know anyone you consider to be godly?” she thought about it for a few moments, and then she said, “Yes! I consider you to be godly;” This really surprised me; for I did not consider myself to be godly. Maybe it is important for us to see that some of the time we are godly, and that other people see us as a godly people.
I asked another friend; “Do you know anyone godly?” This person said, “Yes I know several people I would consider godly.” I asked why, and he told me they would hear God and do what He told them, they were obedient.
As I was thinking about these things I saw something real clearly. If every time there is a question whether a word or action is questionable; just consider; is this a godly word or action. You will know immediately in your heart and spirit if it is or not. Then it is up to you to be godly or ungodly.