Jesus is the perfection of godliness, the embodiment of all that is beautiful, right, and true. And through faith in His death and resurrection, He saves us from the penalty of our sin. But it doesn’t end there. He is also our example to follow and our standard for living. 

The Bible describes that those who believe in Jesus are gifted His Spirit to live transformed lives, but the Bible also states that this “godliness” of living “Christlike” requires rigorous training, discipline, hard work, a daily dying, or as one author likes to say, “holy sweat.” We don’t sit and become godly. We train diligently with the Spirit of Christ.

Paul tells us, “Exercise yourself (physically, emotionally, and mentally train) toward godliness. ⁸ For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. ⁹ This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. ¹⁰ For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach (experience pain).”

So with Jesus as our Lord and leader, we train ourselves toward the fullness of His life, which is supremely displayed in His humility. He came as a servant, sacrificing His comfort, and embracing pain and sorrow to demonstrate love. And this example of humility where we no longer live self-seeking, self-centered, self-promoting lives, but instead we consider the needs and good of others above of our own is our model that we train toward. 

Humility is not weakness. Jesus fearlessly and truthfully spoke out against abusive and misguided power, leading to His death. He was wise and powerful. But He didn’t use His power to be served, rather to serve, laying down His life for others. 

That is what young men need. And if any man, young or old, wants to join us in our training toward the humility of Christ, we meet Monday nights and Thursday mornings.