December 17

Everyone loves to hear a story about a changed life. A great modern day example is Jared Fogle. He weighed 425 pounds until a diet of two low-fat Subway sandwiches per day and a daily 1.5 mile walk helped him lose 245 pounds, shrunk his waist from 60 inches to 34, and made him a national celebrity when he became Subway’s spokesperson.

Change is impressive. But how does change occur? It is easy to slip into one of two extremes regarding change. On one hand we expect that it is God’s responsibility to change us. Philippians 2 says it is God who is at work in us. But in our reading today we see the human role in change.

1 Timothy 4:7-8 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.8For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Here are two observations concerning a changed life.

1. We are to start the process of change by getting rid of something: in this case it was godless myths and old wives tales. Both of these were a waste of time and didn’t produce anything eternal. There are many worthless activities in life that will stunt our spiritual growth. We must say “NO” to them.

2. We are to commit to training. The word training is the verb GYMNAZE, from which comes the English “gymnasium.” But Timothy’s training was in the area of godliness, not physical fitness.
One caution here, there is a huge difference between training yourself to be godly and trying to be godly. We are responsibility to work out our salvation, not to work for our salvation.

Today is accountability day. This is the third last time to check in. Blessings on you as you prepare for Christmas.