What does it mean to live a godly life?

If you ever asked yourself the question, what does it mean to live a godly life? and if your not exactly sure what living a godly life involves, this extract taking from Charles Seet book 'A Christian in a non-Christian world' provides ample guidance on just what to do.

Now it is worth asking the question then, 'What does it mean to live godly?' It does not mean that we are just to confine ourselves within a set of rules and regulations. Some people reduce godly living to a list of 'do’s and don'ts.' But the meaning of godly living goes far deeper than that.

Godly living means living in the manner that God wants us to live. It means having the same feelings, attitudes and heart's desires that God has. It means that we love the things that God loves, care for the things that God cares for, and dislike those things which He dislikes. And since God loves righteousness, a godly person also loves righteousness. Since God hates sin, a godly person also hates sin, whether it is in his own life or in others. A godly person will seek to abandon every sin in his life. Since God wants His own will to be done and to be glorified, a godly person will likewise want God's will to be done and to glorify God in everything he does. Now, if we have these feelings, attitudes and heart's desires, we will soon find ourselves being quite different from the world we live in. And we will soon find ourselves coming into conflict with the world many times. So you see, being godly is not an easy thing.
But no matter how difficult it may be to strive to live a godly life in this world, no matter how hard and inconvenient it becomes to live differently from the rest, it surely is worth all the effort we put in, because the Lord deserves much more than this response from us, for all that He has done. The more we think of how Jesus gave Himself for us so sacrificially, nothing becomes too great for us to give to Him.

And now it is our turn to respond to the same gift.

About 300 years ago, there was a rich young German noble man, who visited an art gallery. And as he looked at the paintings on the wall, one particular painting caught his eye and he just could not take his eyes off it. It was a painting of Christ dying on the cross. That painting showed the face of Jesus in great agony with drops of blood and tears streaming down his cheeks. As that rich young nobleman continued contemplating this painting, his eyes looked at the little label that was attached to the bottom of the painting. On it were the words, 'All this, I have done for thee. What has thou done for Me?' And as he was reading these words, that young nobleman broke down and cried. And right there he gave his life to the Lord, devoting all his time and treasures to the cause of Christ. And God used the godly life of Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf to build up the famous Moravian missionary enterprise, which sent out hundreds of missionaries in the eighteenth century —and inspired countless others. The self-sacrifice, love, and total commitment to evangelisation of the Moravian missionaries who were motivated through Zinzendorf are unparalleled in the history of missions. They also influenced the Evangelical Revival in England through James Hutton and John Wesley.

It is our turn to answer the same question that von Zinzendorf faced
'All this, I have done for thee. What has thou done for Me?' Titus 2:12 says 'that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.' Will you do this for Him?

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k.oni