A Diet For Godliness
This past Sunday, we examined 1 Timothy 4:7-8 where Paul urged Timothy to be resolved to train himself in godliness. Godliness is our inward life with God lived outwardly for God. Or to quote John Calvin, “The goal of God’s work in us is to bring our lives into harmony and agreement with His own righteousness, and so to manifest to ourselves and others our identity as His adopted children.” Growing godliness begins with training.
Just as diet and discipline are the hallmarks of those who want to be physically healthy, so is the case with the Christian that hopes to grow in godliness. Training begins with a faithful diet of Scripture. Remember, it was the Word of God that supplied Jeremiah with joy and delighted heart.
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:15–16
Reading the Bible might feel like lifting weights--lots of work. Therefore, I wanted to be your spotter and help you consume God’s Word. Here are several important and easily overlooked ways to “train yourself for godliness.” These helps should be used only after we have sought the Lord in prayer and asked for His help to understand the Scriptures.
Observation Matters
The first is simple: observe the text. To properly observe, you need to read the text more than once. Carefully, look over the text and comb over the verses. Use your investigation skills and seek to answer the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, and HOW questions. I normally read a text anywhere from 5-8 times. I circle repeated words, phrases, verbs, and anything else that is curious. Some have called this sanctified thinking, seeing that it allows the text to really get inside your mind and heart. Moreover, observation matters because it honors the fact that it was written to a specific time, place, and people.
Observation Enables Comprehension
The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Acts 17:10–11
Have you ever read something, only to forget what you just read? It happens to all of us. The more you observe the text, the more likely you will remember. The more information you remember enables comprehension. It’s easier to explain something we know, than it is to explain something that we don’t know. That’s just simple logic and reasoning. This is what we see in Acts 17 with the Bereas. They were students of observation.
Observation Exalts God In The Mind
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect
Romans 12:2
When you begin to observe the words, phrases, or verses, it exalts God, which makes it worship. We are showing God that His Word is valuable and important enough to spend our time to deeply consider what He’s revealed about His character, His work, and His people. Observation is like singing to God. Observe the Scriptures, exalt God in your mind.
Observation Serves As The Building Block
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
1 Timothy 4:16
There are some unfortunate consequences from a failure to do the work of observation. It leads to unfaithful interpretation and fruitless application. I can say a lot about this, but for the purpose of brevity I’ll provide one simple reason: it can lead to doctrinal error. AKA - you start to believe in something that’s not Biblical or orthodox Christianity.
Test Your Observation
Observation is hard work. It takes time, but it’s incredibly rewarding. Here’s a simple test for observation: write a sentence in the past tense using words from the Scripture to describe what the text says. For example, here was mine from the sermon text on Sunday:
Paul urged Timothy to train himself in godliness because it promises value for this life and the life to come.
There are others who have done exhaustive work to help. One resource you may enjoy on DesiringGod.org is John Piper’s “Look in the Book” - Him circling and highlighting things in the text is the work of observation. Additionally, here are several books and a video course from The Gospel Coalition that would be helpful for observation.