Day 12

Train Yourself for Godliness

NFL legend Tom Brady says playing in the NFL is like getting in a car wreck every day. Because of the toll it takes on his body, Tom does all he can to keep his body in peak condition. Besides working out, he focuses a lot on his diet. He stays away from foods that can be inflammatory, so no tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, or eggplants.

He mostly eats whole grains: brown rice, quinoa, millet, beans. The other 20 percent of his diet is lean meats: grass-fed organic steak, chicken and wild salmon.

No soft drinks. No white sugar. No white flour. No MSG. He only cooks with coconut oil. He uses Himalayan pink salt as the sodium. No iodized salt. No coffee. No caffeine. No fungus. No dairy.

He drinks between 12 and 25 glasses of water a day but he never drinks water when eating because he says it can interfere with optimum digestion. Tom doesn’t drink alcohol except on rare occasions.

Tom Brady is disciplining himself and his body so he can have success athletically. Paul challenges his young disciple Timothy to have this same kind of mentality in pursuing godliness.

Today’s Challenge:

1. Read the passage.
2. Answer the reflection questions.

“Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” - 1 Timothy 4:7-8

Reflection Questions:

1. What is the command in v. 7?
2. The Greek word for train is gymnazo, which means “to exercise vigorously.” In your own words, how would you rephrase this verse?
3. What is the reason Paul gives Timothy for such gymnazo training in v. 8?
4. If you had Tom Brady’s discipline in your pursuit of godliness, what would change?
5. How does this verse challenge us to train in practicing something like BRACE?

Hear from another Tom (not Brady) how practicing BRACE regularly dramatically impacted his recovery:

“My battle was not in computer images but memories of past sexual encounters. The Freedom Fight has helped me to BRACE against this kind of temptation. I never knew about the chemical warfare that my fantasy was waging against my soul and that victory was possible. The victory I was shooting for was to not allow myself to engage in sexual fantasy that would culminate in masturbation. For me this has been a 40-year battle. I am on a 300+ day streak, which in my world is unbelievable. Seriously, I don’t believe it. But it is true. The amazing thing to me is that at about 90 days, I began to experience a different kind of temptation. It seemed that the temptation was less often and less severe. I don’t know why, but I think it may have something to do with a detoxing of sorts from these brain chemicals they talk about.” -Tom

Tom disciplined himself for godliness by practicing BRACE every time he had an impure thought. He renewed his mind and built a new pathway. You can too!

Bonus Challenge: Use BRACE every time you have an impure thought or are triggered.

Holy Habit #3: Use and practice BRACE