I Trained For Ungodliness?

“Train yourself for godliness” is the apostle Paul’s advice to Timothy, for it holds promise for this present life and also for the life to come.

In his letter to Titus, Paul stated: “For the grace of God has appeared training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”

This is what life should look like for every follower of Jesus.  But several years ago, as I began to wage a war to break free from my compulsive and habitual sin of pornography, I learned that I had done the exact opposite.  Although my parents had taken me to church all of my life and I gave my life to Christ as a teenager and then became a full-time missionary – in many ways I had trained my heart and my mind and my body for ungodliness.

I prayed to God, sang songs in church and read my Bible, yet I had learned to seek out sensual and provocative thoughts.  I trained myself to look when a girl wearing a short skirt was about to sit down to notice if I could see her panties.

Sadly it was another guy in the youth group at church who told me one day that by looking closely it was possible to tell if a girl was wearing a bra or not.  After that, I began to be on the lookout for girls in tight blouses.

I enjoyed viewing stimulating scenes in television shows or movies.  I really had trained my eyes and my brain to seek out just about any and every scenario where I might find fodder for lust.  Then these images could be filled away in my brain to be retrieved at my whim and fancy.

So when I finally decided that I no longer wanted to live this way and it was my desire to not entertain even a hint of sexual impurity in my mind, my work was cut out for me. (Ephesians 5:3)

I had to untrain for ungodliness so that I could train for godliness.  All of those bad habits needed to be undone.  Habits ingrained in my behavior over decades had to be consciously and systematically put off and put away so that I could begin to focus my thoughts on all that is good and true and honorable.  (Philippians 4:8).

I meet guys all the time who are in this same predicament.  They want to change.  Yet they find that changing is much harder than they ever imagined.  Most have never stopped to consider that if they trained for years to live the wrong way, that learning to live God’s way, learning to walk in purity, will not happen overnight.

Like the tennis player or baseball player or golfer who has a poor swing, it is essential to unlearn what has become routine and then slowly and carefully do things the right way.

Speaking of false teachers in his day the apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 2.14 They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse.

Sadly, far too many people who profess to be servants of Jesus are well trained in greed or lust or anger.  In order to break free from habitual sins it is essential that we renew our minds and then retrain our bodies to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

The good news is that with the Lord’s help all who in the past practiced and became skilled at sinning can now train themselves for godliness.  Those who had been experts in a particular sin and novices at resisting temptation can find a new life.  Breaking a bad habit and replacing it with holy, healthy habits will probably not be easy nor instantaneous.  But it is possible!  The good news of Jesus is that salvation is offered to all.  We can renounce evil and walk in the light with the help of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Titus 2.11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Learn more about how to walk with Jesus and live a life worth living in the book:  Jesus Is Better Than Porn