Godliness

I Tim. 6:11-12 says, "...O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, GODLINESS, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life..."

The Strong's definition of GODLINESS includes the ideas of "devout, piety, well-reverent".

The definition from the Webster's 1828 dictionary says "devout" is "yielding a solemn and reverential attention to God in religious exercise, particularly in prayer."

I thought that was very interesting! Prayer is an important ingredient of godliness....

"Piety in principle is a compound of veneration or reverence of the Supreme Being accompanied with love; and piety in practice is the exercise of these affections in obedience to his will and devotion to his service."

The Puritans use to talk a lot about piety, but it seems like the subject is rarely talked about today, and I think it's very much lacking in people's lives, too. I think it's something most of us need to really work on....

I Tim. 4:7 says we are to "exercise (ourselves) in godliness. Exercise implies training and DISCIPLINE. It's difficult to discipline ourselves in spiritual exercises like consistent meditation and prayer, but we are commanded to do it.