Training

It seems that we spend our whole lives in training. We spend our early years in school learning a variety of subjects. For some, schooling extends into young adulthood as they pursue masters and doctorate degrees. Then we take a job and are in training for the specific job tasks. Since most of us don’t stay in the same job forever, we have to learn new job tasks. Even if we were to stay in the same job, new technologies require additional training.

It’s amazing that our brains can handle all that information over a life time. It’s also amazing that we receive so little training in some of the most important areas of our lives, like marriage and child rearing. We pick these things up by the examples we observe. Unfortunately, not all of these examples are good ones.

We also don’t receive character development training. We tend to pick up character traits as they are displayed by others. Again, some of these traits should not be duplicated, as they are not positive or redeeming traits. I Timothy 4:7-8 says, “On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” God calls us to godliness. He gives us a high standard and asks us to be disciplined in our lives to achieve this goal. But He also empowers us by His Spirit to develop godliness in our thoughts and habits.