Christian in Training

1 Timothy 4 delivers an incredible exhortation, that serves only to confirm something that at times you begin to doubt: that walking the talk can be tough business. When you try to live out the Christian life, there are so many times when you begin to say: this is unreal, how can it be so tough? Maybe I must be doing something wrong. You find yourself not running away from temptation as fast. You slip and take a few steps back, and it takes a while before you finally see the folly of your ways and you start to crave the purity you once had. And the cycle continues again as you once again realise just how tough the discipline is. In this light, it's heartening to read Paul's encouragement to Timothy: train yourself to be Godly. I guess we don't always appreciate the beauty of godliness until we've seen the miry clay of sin. Yes, the Holy Spirit enables us and we cannot manage without grace, but that grace only enables us to reach further, not to reach without even trying.