Godliness vs. worldliness.

When we think of Godliness, we usually immediately think of some devotion made by personal human efforts.

And when we think of worldliness, we often think of heavy drinking, adultery, and other detestable things as the image of worldliness.

The problem is that we miss the mark with both thoughts. To our human senses, worldliness is not as detestable as we think it to be. That husband committing adultery will probably come up with enough excuses for cheating on his spouse. He’ll probably say that the mistress treats him a lot better than his wife. Now, who doesn’t want to be treated well?

The problem with worldliness is that we rely on our senses to approve or disapprove it. And what our human senses actually want is everything that the world promises. See the commercial, “We’ll get you a car or a house, with no money down”, “We’ll mail you a payday check overnight”, “The more you spend, the more you save”. Those are the types of messages the world throw at us day after day.

Our senses can easily be misled. Worldliness is a religion in itself. It takes more than our senses to reject worldliness and abide in godliness. It takes the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:3-8)

Godliness is a work of the Holy Spirit in the believers’ lives. It goes beyond what our senses comprehend. The goal of godliness is not to mislead us but to retain our hearts and minds focused on Jesus as our perfecter, our maker so that we can rest in the things that God has freely given us and not the things the world daily promises but never deliver.