“…train yourselves to be godly” (1 Timothy 4:7b).
As I posted a few weeks back, I’m going through a bit of an identity crisis. I’ve been trying to reconcile who I am with who God is calling me to be and coming up short every time. Recently, while in two separate conversations with two of my coworkers, the word “practice” came up again and again.
I’ve always thought that someday I would wake up and find myself made into the woman of God I’ve always desired to become. I would be gracious, gentle, kind, loving, patient, forgiving, humble, and servant-hearted; in other words, I would have the attributes I’ve always wanted but feel that I lack.
As I’ve been thinking about how I can become that woman, I realized that I will never simply wake up and find that I have suddenly obtained those characteristics. So how can I get there? Practice.
In other words, if I want to be more loving I need to practice being more loving TODAY. If I want to be more patient, I must practice being patient today. I have all the capacity to become the woman of God I want to be, but I can’t sit idly by and wait to be suddenly changed. I have to choose to be changed.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9
