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Snow swirling outside, I had lit candles, turned on our gas fire, and snuggled up for a few much needed sequestered hours alone. Yet, as I peered out the window while sipping my first cup of tea, I saw a car pull into our driveway. I could see out the window that a young woman I knew walked to my doorway with a small bouquet of red carnations. As I opened the door, she offered me the bouquet and said with tear-filled eyes, “Please, can I talk with you for just a few minutes?”
She spilled out her story in a very few minutes, speaking of disappointment with Christian leaders who had morally compromised their vows of marriage, she spoke of political news online with partisan hatred spewing, had worries about a relative who was addicted to pornography, and ended her flow of words with,
“I just need you to pray with me. Everywhere I look, I see compromise, immorality, violence on the news, lack of integrity amongst those I hoped would be reliable and I find myself fearful of what is ahead. What kind of world am I bringing my children into? How will they be able to make it? How am I going to be able to pass on faith when I don’t know anyone who is faithful?”
It is true that we are surrounded by darkness in many fronts today. I understand her feelings and have shared them many times. Yet, when I look through my decades, at almost 67, I can see more clearly that life has often been hard and God has always been faithful. I see that living with faith, godliness, virtue, in the end brings light and beauty and goodness. Our following hard after God matters as much now as it ever has.
Life has been dark through much of history. Leaders have been wicked and self-concerned and evil, moral standards and righteous virtue has been compromised and the world seems to be swirling in a downward spiral for hundreds of years.
Yet, this time and place is the opportunity we have to be bold in our behavior, strong in our faith, courageous in our convictions, and generous in our love. Now is the time for those who truly love Christ to determine to be godly, to live holy that His light might shine through us into the dark world around us. Could it be that God allowed us to be born into this time so that we could glorify Him in this time of history in the world. Perhaps,, then, this is the time and place where we are called to be faithful, to see it as an opportunity to show HIs reality through our own lives..
I have been pondering just what it means to be godly and found myself caught up in hundreds of verses that encourage us to be godly, to live holy lives. I compiled this definition of godly from looking at multiple definitions:
Godly means pious; reverencing and respecting God, and his character, honoring His worth by worship and obedience to His admonitions and laws; obedient to the commands of God from love for, and reverence of, his character; conformed to God's law; devout; righteous; as, a godly life. Godly(adverb)
We have this chance, this opportunity to serve God faithfully. When we see darkness, we seek to show light. When we see spiritual battle, we call on God to fight for righteousness through us. When we see needs, we seek to generously show compassion and love and to bring restoration and redemption to those who long for comfort, purpose, direction.
Now is our time to be faithful, to live out a story of our faith in our king and His coming kingdom. What if instead of fear, we cultivated courage? Instead of depression, we cultivated a way of sharing in the joy of His reality and His coming return. Our story at this time will be recorded with all the great stories we read about in scripture—those who lived by faith, as recorded in Hebrews.
And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, 33 who through faith, conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and obtained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.…Hebrews 11:33
We can be a part of His story but He looks for absolute commitment, from our hearts, a movement toward righteousness, towards light, towards the ways of Jesus. No compromise.
It is true that it seems we are living in godless times—where people don’t seem to have a conscience, don’t live by unshakeable moral standards—don’t even know what it means to be righteous—living rightly in relationship with God and in life. A twisting of truth is taking place in almost all public arenas.
But, now is the time for us to live godly in Christ Jesus, for us to pursue Jesus as never before. Now is the time to live in front of our children in such a way that they will have hope and long to have their own opportunity to live a faithful story.
What is our hope? If God is for us, then who can be against us? We know that ultimately God will be the victor and now is our opportunity to choose to live by this truth.
Psalm 4:3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him.
Join me today for Part 1 of my podcast about what it means to be godly. (Part 2 is recorded for our membership at LIfewithSally.com) We would love for you to join us there. May God give you eyes to see this day, this time as one in which He wants to work through you to bring about a picture of His reality.
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