Real Godliness
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
(1 Samuel 16:7)
This brings us to a bottom-line question I seldom hear addressed these days: What exactly does it mean to be godly? Now be careful. Try hard not to link your answer with a certain geography or culture or traditional mentality. It is easy to let our prejudices seep through and erroneously define the concept on the basis of our bias.
- Does being godly mean living high up in the mountains, cutting wood to heat a log cabin, and reading the Bible under the flickering flame of a kerosene lamp?
- Or how about this? The godly person must be old, deliberate, one who prays for hours every day, and doesn’t watch much television. Is that godliness?
- Can a person be godly and yet competitive in business, keen thinking, and financially successful?
- Is it possible to be godly and drive a Porsche . . . and never get married and . . . (hold on!) not go to church every week?
- Does being holy require that I squat on a hillside, strum a guitar with my eyes closed, eat a bagful of birdseed, and write religious music from the book of Psalms?
- Are people disqualified if they are good athletes or if they are famous entertainers or if they are rich or if they have champagne tastes or if they wear diamonds and furs? Can anybody in that category be a godly Christian?
- One more . . . and this may hurt. How about believers who still struggle, who don’t have some of the theological issues settled, who don’t understand many of the hymns sung in church, who don’t read a lot of Christian books?
I’m probing, honestly trying to discover the answer to a simple question: What is godliness?
You’ll have to agree that it can’t be confused with how a person looks. As hard as it is for us to be free of envy and critical thoughts, it is imperative that we remind ourselves that God looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Therefore, whatever we may say holiness is, it is not skin deep. It is something below the surface of a life, deep down in the realm of an attitude . . . an attitude toward God Himself.
