Godliness is profitable

Today I read Jeremiah 4:23-6:23 and 1 Timothy 3:7-4:11. My favorite verses are:

Jeremiah 6:19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

First, the frivolous—I used to quote the beginning of this verse in Timothy because I hate to exercise, and I could justify my laziness because the Bible says “bodily exercise profiteth little”. Yes, I know that is not the point of the verse.

So on to the serious—it is important that we lead godly lives here and now. We are not saved just so that we can go to heaven when we die, although that is a really good reason to want salvation. The life we are living NOW is important in the eyes of God. God saves us to serve Him and have fellowship with Him NOW. He wants us to influence others so that as many as possible will be saved before it is too late. The words of the prophet Jeremiah were spoken to the people of Judah concerning their failure to obey God, but those same words are relevant today even here in the United States of America. When I read this verse, I couldn’t help remembering all the controversy in recent years over the displaying of the Ten Commandments in schools, court houses, and other “public” locations. We have rejected the law of God; many of our leaders do not want to be reminded of it. Instead of abiding by our constitutional mandate to have freedom of religion, there are many who want us to have freedom FROM Christian influence. God said, “I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts.” Do you know what the fruit of this kind of thinking is? Those who don’t want to be reminded of God’s presence will be denied God’s presence. Can you imagine our country and our world deprived of the presence of God and the influence of godly people? Godliness IS profitable; God’s people must live in obedience to His word. We must sound a warning to those who are lost because they have no hope in this life or in the life to come; they are ETERNALLY lost. We can make a difference—we MUST make a difference!