Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great:
Summary: Paul is pointing us to a ‘mystery’ that only God understands the answer to. For our part, it is enough to see and believe.
It must be a challenge, even for God, to communicate with us. After all, God is an eternal being (Psalm 90:4). His ‘living memory’ spans all of time. He created everything there is (Genesis 1:1), which means that even our highest form of math and the farthest reaches of our science barely scratch the surface of God’s knowledge.
For an eternal being, the supreme eternal being who created all things, his thoughts are necessarily more complete, comprehensive, and accurate than anything even the most brilliant human being could hope to achieve during our puny lifetimes (Isaiah 55:9).
What seems obvious to God is a mystery to us. And yet, God continues to find ways of helping us understand the truth. The Bible is a collection of writings that explain the truth in hundreds, and perhaps thousands of different ways. All we have to do is accept that God is smarter than we are and believe what he tells us.
Where does ‘true godliness’ come from?
For anyone who loves God above all else, this is an important question. If we love God, we want to honor and respect him. If we love him, we want to be like him. To fail at any of these things is painful because we not only bring shame upon ourselves but also upon our Father as well.
The answer to this question is simply this: Jesus. (The rest of this verse is all about Jesus!)
If we let Jesus into our lives, the Holy Spirit fills us with hope and transformation (Romans 12:2). We begin to change. True godliness becomes part of who we are. Godliness is a seed that takes root and grows. The ‘fruit of the Spirit’ is what we see happening on the outside (Galatians 5:22-23).
Which brings us to another question: If the ‘secret’ to true godliness isn’t really a ’secret’ at all, why does the Bible seem so complicated?
The answer to that question has to do with human nature. As long as we live in the flesh, we are bound to struggle with sin (Romans 7:21-25). If we are not constantly keeping our eyes on God, we are in danger of falling away (Matthew 13:21). This is why Jesus and the Bible speak with unusual clarity.
Application: Read God’s Word, believe, and act accordingly.
Food for Thought: Why does the Bible have so many warnings about ‘falling away?’
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