Godliness is Gain

In the last chapter of 1 Timothy, Paul warned Timothy about riches.  He wrote that “the love of money is the root of all evil” and that when “some coveted” it caused them to “err from the faith” (1 Timothy 6:10).  He reminded us of the common sentiment that is more often believed with the heads than with the heart: “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”  Paul also said that there are some who suppose “that gain is godliness” when it should be the other way around: “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:5-7).  I love that simple truth and word inversion: the world tells us gain is godliness, but really it is godliness that is gain.  In other words, some will tell us (whether by word or action) that gaining items of the world is a sign of success and being like God, when in reality the pursuit of true godliness—the traits of love and patience and kindness and longsuffering and humility—that is what is real gain for us.  The reason is that we can take the latter with us when we die.  If we have developed charity and faith and meekness, that is true gain that will indeed come with us to the next life and into eternity.  But the gain of worldly things will all be left behind.  Paul was one who had very little as far as we can tell once he converted to the gospel.  He died in prison without worldly goods, and yet he had developed a godliness—righteousness—that could not be measured in any worldly terms.  He would write again to Timothy in his last words, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). 

               The Lord speaks of godliness several times in the Doctrine and Covenants.  The most famous verse in which it is mentioned is in D&C 4 in the traits that are used to encourage missionaries: “Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence” (v6).  To me the traits listed here, at least in some sense, are all part of what it means to have godliness.  If we define godliness as being like God, then that means that we need faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, charity, humility and diligence (among other traits) in order to be like Him.  In the founding document of the Church we read that to take the Sacrament we should manifest to others “a godly walk and conversation, that they are worthy of it” (D&C 20:69).  So we must be able to walk and speak like God would walk and speak; or at least we are to seek to develop the kinds of actions and traits and habits that the Lord Himself has.  In a revelation on priesthood the word godliness is referenced again in a list of divine traits that should accompany the priesthood: “In all righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long-suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity” (D&C 107:30).  Again here it would seem to me that godliness is not just one in this list but is itself defined by all of the others; to have a godly walk we must seek after holiness, lowliness of heart, meekness, long-suffering, faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, and charity.  That is how God is, and so one possessed of godliness will naturally develop those traits.  And, of course, that spiritual development is the pursuit of a lifetime.  But if we have spent our major efforts in this life trying to get worldly gain, then we will one day discover that we did not gain godliness.  To seek diligently like Paul after these godly traits, though, will lead us to discover that we have truly gained what God intended for us here on earth.