“Godliness” is an overrated attribute in church.
Now, before you cast your stones at me, hear me out.
When I first become a believer in Christ, the most popular catch-phrases that I hear in church were, “Oh, I want to be more godly”, “he is such a godly man, wonder why he is still single” Or “She’s such a godly lady, blessed is the guy who marries her” etc. Whilst the idea and desire of “godliness” is not wrong and in fact, much to be desired as we are all called to be disciples of Christ and to bear His character, the whole concept of “godliness” can become much distorted when we do not have the spiritual maturity to discern it with wisdom and humility.
To someone who is still in the baby phase of learning about the heart and mind of God, “godliness” is the Christian-version of desirable worldly attributes like “popular”, “rich”, “smart”, “nice”, “pretty”, “entertaining” etc. It can be potentially dangerous if it becomes an accessory to our easily inflated ego. More often than not, we may subconsciously pursue “godliness” as a condition justified by the outward achievements of how active is the person in church, how frequently is he or she involved in cell, how well does the person know the Bible, how colourful is his or her prayer language, how well can the person sing worship songs and the likes. There is nothing wrong in trying the gauge the health of the fruit tree by the quality of its fruits but if we are looking at works alone as fruits, we run the risk of turning our faith into some kind of performance rather than an ongoing journey of learning, failing, surrendering, repentance and growing in relationship with the Lord.
Regardless of how well-seasoned we think we are in our walk with Him, the truth is, learning about the heart of God and allowing ourselves to be pursued by Him even as we seek Him out, is a lifelong journey. To claim “godliness” for ourselves or to use the term loosely as a label on someone we admire in our Christian circles can lead us into idolization of another human being (who is also in essence a sinner like us); or it can create the false belief that we have already arrived, when we are still far from close. It can potentially set up grounds of disparity and distances between fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, making those who are in the valley seasons of their lives feel like they might never match up.
Yet, if we look back to the Word of God, we will realise that comparisons amongst believers should not be the focus of our faith journey. The Bible has made it clear that we are all members of the same body and that we ought to help each other out, regardless of how differently we appear or function, for we are all working towards the glorifying God who is the center of our faith. If we understand this bond of unity in love of Christ, then we will come to learn that it is not a question of who is more godly and who is not; but more of how we can help each other’s heart to learn more about God.
When we come to learn more about God and His heart, we will know that only God can truly know the state of our own hearts. So it becomes easier to let go of the labels and prejudices and biases that bind us, to just embrace living as we are, with a step-by-step faith that He is moulding us even as we yield ourselves to Him.
