Developing Godly Habits: How To Order Your Life

I try to exercise regularly. I have to exercise a great deal and be very, very careful about how I eat, because my body is very good at gaining weight and not very quick to lose it. Can anyone relate?

I always have eggs for breakfast, and coffee. I try not to eat again all morning until lunch time. At lunch I eat a large meal, my largest of the day, and then I try not to eat again until 5:00 PM dinner. I play basketball for an hour and a half, full court, on Mondays and Thursdays. Three times a week I do a 20 min workout routine.

It's amazing how much time and effort we put toward our physical bodies. We fight very hard to keep fit and stave off old age. At least for as long as we can. But we know that each of us will one day die, and our bodies will pass into the ground, and our souls will return to the God who made them.

The Apostle Paul, when he wrote his letter to Timothy, told his young apprentice that physical training does have some value. But Paul indicates that training in Godliness has value for all things.

How much time and effort do we spend toward say, our jobs? Forty hours a week? And how much time do we put toward our families? Many hours of time. These things are important. Our jobs help us pay the bills, and provide for our families. Our families are very important. But do we have the right order of priorities? Is God first in our lives, and do we spend real time with Him? Are we training ourselves in Godliness?

Today we’re looking at the topic of developing great habits. So we’re going to look at a theological concept, exam some scripture, and then consider our applications.

The Apostle Paul in his letters, like Romans, Galatians, and Philippians, often returns to a simple formula for the Christian life. I like to call it the Pauline equation. This equation… this balance that we’re going to talk about has been wrestled with by all the greats throughout history, from Martin Luther during the protestant reformation, to John Wesley and George Whitfield, all the way to the 1970s revivals of Billy Graham, and the Jesus movements of the 1980s and 90s. Balance, between faith and obedience. The Pauline equation…

One, recognize that you’ve been saved by the grace of God found in Christ. Jesus Christ, through his life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the grave has paid our debt of sins. Your sins are washed away if you are in Christ. You’ve been born again. You’ve walked out of the tomb of sin and darkness, just as Jesus left the tomb and showed himself to many witnesses. If you’re in Christ, your sins are gone. Jesus has satisfied the wrath of God against sin by dying in your place. Your sins, that whole record of wrongs is wiped clean because your sins were put on Christ, at that moment on the cross when Jesus cried out: “Father, father, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus took our sin, and gave us his righteousness. Theologians call this the great exchange.

Two, Paul next always tells us that we must live the most pure and holy lives in response to this free gift. We’re exhorted to set aside sins of the flesh, and to embrace the fruits of the spirit. It takes dedication to walk in obedience in the Christ-life. If we skip either of these elements we can begin to drift away from Christ, and we begin to be in danger of losing our salvation.

As the 9th doctrine of the Salvation Army states: “We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.”

There are two key words in that statement I’d direct your attention to: “Obedient faith.” Faith in Christ’s atonement. Obedience to Christ’s commands. And what's the verb? “Continued.” We have to walk the walk, day by day, month by month, and year by year.

Obedience and faith. If we don’t obey Christ, then we are in danger of antinomianism. That’s a big theological word, but it means that we believe in Christ, but never change how we live. We keep on sinning, and then say “God will forgive me.” That’s not how a real Christian lives. So we need obedience.

The other danger is that we can become too focused on obedience and trusting in ourselves for our salvation. We start to slowly put our faith in self, and our own attempts at righteousness. We become a Pharisee. Either path leads to spiritual disaster. So we must walk faithfully and obediently, with Christ. And to do that, we have to consider how we can develop Godly habits.