Being godly in lockdown is hard.
Some are learning to live with their parents again after years of living alone. Others are living in small flats with nowhere to flee from temptation. Everyone is missing their friends and church family. We want our old routines back.
How can we possibly grow in godliness at a time like this?
In Titus 1:1, Paul says our knowledge of the truth accords with our godliness. They are like two notes in perfect harmony. This gives us two ways our godliness can grow during lockdown.
First, we can grow in godliness as we reflect on the truth.
In his book Future Grace, John Piper says that all sin comes from unbelief because we sin when we stop believing what God says. We get impatient when we forget God’s patience with us. We give in to lust and desire when we ignore our new identity in Christ. We can only grow in godliness when we remind ourselves of the truth.
When I was at university, I tried to learn a verse for each of the sins I particularly struggled with. Then, if I felt the temptation to sin, I had them in my heart already, as armour for the fight. In the same way, God will help you to grow in godliness as you meditate on his word.
Secondly, we can grow in godliness as we reflect out the truth.
In Colossians 3, Paul tells us to put off the old man and to put on Christ. Just as Adam defined our old life, Christ defines our new life. As well as enabling us to be godly, he shows us what godliness means. The more we reflect on his truth in our hearts, the more we reflect out his truth in our lives.
Think about the people in your life. How you could show them the truth about Jesus in your actions this week? If you’re stuck at home with your parents, how could you show them that Jesus is at work in you? How could you serve your small group as Jesus has served you? How could you model the confidence that Jesus gives you in this crisis to your colleagues?
Try making a mind map of all the ways you could imitate Jesus’s example. Meditate on every facet of his character, and think about how you could follow his lead. Because as we’ve seen, growing in godliness is about reflecting on God’s truth in our hearts, and reflecting out God’s truth in our lives.