"Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." - 1 Timothy 4:8.

The life that now is. Covetousness reading this begins to glow with delight; it exclaims, " This is the very thing I seek; 'the life that now is;' and of course 'that which is to come.' Religion is a good thing after all; I will give myself to it at once." But the promise is not to thee, covetousness; it is to godliness. It is to the soul in which covetousness is dead; to the godly soul, which says, " One thing is needful;" whose affections are set on things above; which looks upon the favor of God as life, and upon worldliness as death. This promise is to the follower of Christ who has taken up his cross and covenanted to abandon the paths of worldly pleasure. Yes; the promise of the life that now is can only be made to him who has learned to look upon life as a means of serving God, glorifying Christ, revealing the truth and working out salvation. He that is absorbed in the life that now is, loses both this life and that which is to come; he that is godly, that lives unto God, gains this life and that which is to come. Gains this life, because his sorrow is worth, a hundred times over, the joy of the ungodly; his life is not a prey to vanity; his days are so many steps toward a blissful condition; and God approves. Gains it, because all things work together for his good; - gains it, because all the promises are his; he has peace; he has joy, love, humility, purity, and a hope that will not fail him.