When teaching a novice athlete the high-jump, you dare not set the bar too low, making it an easy feat; nor ridiculously high, lest he or she be discouraged, not even attempting the jump. But it should be just beyond their reach, moving the bar higher after each successful clearance.
Some deeper-life preachers as well as Christian authors, especially biographers, set the horizontal bar for a godly life so high angels couldn’t clear it. I’ve read enough honest biographies, been behind closed doors with those who had a reputation for holiness, to know, “It just ain’t so!”
When a man or woman neglects his or her mate, takes little or no time with their children, and is incessantly alone in prayer and study, well, that man should have been a monk. Such should have never married. Their address should have been: 777 Monastery Road, Celestial City.
Godly men and women of the Bible all lived among men. They weren't hermits, but very much human! They walked amidst mankind, with all their idiosyncrasies, shortcomings, and yes, sins. Honest faults are forgivable; it is not so with facade.
No one is impressed with a godliness that can’t be seen, a life lived under a basket, so to speak.
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