One of the main reasons why the spiritual is subject to the material is lack of content.

Dr Tony Evans says we can't get to godliness if we're not content with God's goodness.

The contented man is the man or woman who knows that God is acting on

their behalf. This is the alternative with Dr Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible

Fellowship in Dallas, Texas and president of the Urban Alternative.

Every day we have the option to respond to our circumstances with either

griping or gratitude. Today Dr Evans explains why the choice we make affects much

more than the way we feel as he explores the motivation for godliness.

Let's turn to 1st Timothy chapter 6 for today's lesson.

We have defined godliness as a lifestyle that is consistent with the character of God.

Godliness does not mean perfection, but it does mean growth in consistency, where we are both desirous and functioning in a way that reflects who

God is, a visible demonstration of what he is like.

We have explained that you can be religious

and not be godly.

Like a baby with a pacifier who thinks he's getting something but getting nothing.

They're being faked out by something non-nutritional just because it feels good in their mouth. That's what church is for a lot of people, because they suck on the pacifier of religion that think they're being narrowed spiritually.

Your soul, whether you know it or not, is begging for godliness. It's begging to be filled with more of God. And because

the soul is not being filled with godliness, you wind up with a starving soul,

a soul that is nutritionally deprived of what it is longing for once it has been converted and the spirit of God moves in it

for experiencing more of God's presence in the soul

But there's a problem. It's a big problem. Because there is one

thing above all other things that interrupts our move toward Godliness.

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