The Habits of a Godly Life—Part 2

April 9, 2026

By Maria Fontaine

Audio length: 13:27
Download Audio (12.3MB)

In Part 1 of this series, I shared with you some important things that shaped Charles Stanley’s early life, and his desire to tell others about Jesus.

Charles launched into his ministry of preaching with enthusiasm, but the nagging reality that his best efforts often failed gradually brought him to a crisis point in his life. Something was wrong in his relationship with Jesus.

After much prayer and desperation, the Lord began to help him to understand.

CS: “I was struggling, trying to do my best, but what I didn’t want to do, I found myself doing; what I wanted to do, I didn’t have the strength to do. He finally got me to the absolute total end of myself. … Then, for the first time in my life, I faced the idea that Jesus Christ came to live on the inside of me, to live through me a life I could not live on my own. … Galatians 2:20 came to my mind, when Paul said: ‘I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.’

“I finally realized that God loves me unconditionally. He loves me exactly how He loves His Son—absolutely, perfectly, and unconditionally. What a reassuring thought that I do not have to live up to anything. I don’t have to perform to get God to love me, to get His acceptance, to get Him to love me just a little bit more. The tragedy of trying to earn His love is that none of that does any good. Why? Because you’re trying to get God to do something that He’s already done absolutely, perfectly, completely.

“Many believers will go to their grave in the bondage of trying to please God, trying to perform, trying to live up to, trying somehow to be good enough to get His acceptance, when it is absolutely impossible. Remember what grace is all about. Grace is all about the fact that God loves us in spite of who we are. God has forgiven us when we don’t deserve it. It is not living up to, performing, or trying to measure up to anything.”

Maria: This topic is the most humbling thing to accept, but it’s also the most liberating. It is about God loving us despite ourselves, and loving us not because of anything within us, but simply because He’s the God He is. Charles continued:

CS: “The reason God loves you and me unconditionally has nothing to do with what we are, who we are, how we act. It has to do with His nature. It is the very character and nature of God to love with all the fullness and all the potential that His divine love has to offer. Once you have accepted His gift, nothing you can ever do can alter the fact that Jesus Christ died for your sins. You could never be lost after God has saved you, because He says He has sealed you with the Holy Spirit. He’s living on the inside of you. (See Ephesians 1:13–14.)”

Maria: When reading this, I’m reminded of my own upbringing. Even though my father was a preacher, we never knew whether we were going to lose our salvation because we hadn’t stayed close enough to the Lord that week. Then, if Jesus came back when we were not doing well spiritually, hadn’t been reading our Bible diligently, etc., we could easily miss the Lord’s coming, or we could be lost before we had a chance to ask Him to forgive us and regain our salvation.

When you bring people to Jesus, you need to make very sure that they will be secure in their newfound faith and they will know without a shadow of a doubt that they cannot lose their salvation.

CS: “It’s God’s nature to love us unconditionally. That means that God loves us when we behave. He loves us when we misbehave. He loves us when things are good. He loves us when things are bad. He loves us when we’re encouraged. He loves us when we’re discouraged. He loves us when we make a mess of things. He loves us when we do well. Thank God His love is not like the weather; it never changes.”

* * *

Dr. Charles Stanley’s grandson, Matthew, shared about his own life and the impact that his grandfather has had on it. He has battled with major problems in his life, from running away from what he felt in his heart was his calling, to alcoholism, drug addiction, bipolar disorder, fear, depression, suicidal tendencies, and chronic loneliness. He said the following:

“Grandpa never said, ‘Oh, Matthew, I’m giving up on you.’ He would call me and say, ‘Matthew, I love you! Please get back on track.’ He never stopped inviting me to stuff. … My grandpa was the kind of person who, when somebody was down in the dumps, he’d go and reach out to them.”

Maria: Once when Matthew was battling depression and was on the brink of suicide, his grandfather called him. In their conversation Charles said, “I just wanted to tell you, why don’t you just give Jesus one more try?” Matthew said that for some reason that request inspired him and saved his life.

Matthew: “There is a one-liner that my grandpa repeated often: ‘Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.’

“By meditating on that phrase, it always has an impact on my life, and it does affect the decision-making that I do in my day-to-day business. It reminds me to quit trying to deal with my emotional trauma and all these things myself. … Even though the world is a mess and the world is crazy, there’s somebody out there looking out for me. …

“My life has been an absolute mess, but my grandpa never gave up on me. I’ll tell you what I’m going to do today to be more like my grandpa. I promise you, I’m going to do whatever it takes to honor my grandpa. I’m going to obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.”

* * *

Beauty for Ashes

Maria: A major event for Charles Stanley was when his wife left him. He struggled for some time with loneliness and loss, but God had a plan to bring good. He described it like this:

CS: “Someone said to me, ‘I used to feel like I couldn’t watch you. What do you know about loneliness and hurt and pain and suffering and loss? Now I can watch you, because now I know you know how I feel.’

“It was a Romans 8:28. God knew what He was doing. So, I [remain] single by choice, but I don’t know how I could be any happier than I am, frankly.”

* * *

It’s What We Choose to Focus On

A very beautiful principle that Charles Stanley found to be a life-changer was the realization that whatever we face, what matters is where we put our focus. He explained:

CS: “The more we focus on a problem, the bigger it gets and the more we are tempted to doubt the Lord. But if you are focused on Jesus, then everything else pales by comparison to Him. One of the clearest examples in the Bible of this is the story of Daniel in the lions’ den. … Daniel slept with the lions all night. If he had been focused on the lions, he wouldn’t have been sleeping!”

Maria: When Charles was a young pastor, he encountered a lot of opposition and felt discouraged with all the problems facing him. An elderly woman from Charles’ church asked him to come to her apartment because she wanted to show him something. He described what happened next:

CS: “We walked into her apartment, and she said, ‘Now don’t sit down, I want to show you something.’ She led me over to a large picture of Daniel in the lions’ den. She said, ‘Now, son, I want you to tell me what you see.’”

Maria: The picture was of a whole group of lions, all sitting around watching Daniel, but Daniel’s eyes were looking up into a beam of light that was shining into the den. Charles considered every item in the picture, trying to guess what the woman was getting at, but he couldn’t get the point.

CS: “Then she said, ‘What I want you to see is that Daniel doesn’t have his eyes on the lions, but on God.’ It was like God hugged me that day.”

Maria: He went on to explain that when we get our eyes on the problems, we feel less confident, less significant. But Daniel had his eyes on omnipotence. God made the lions, and Daniel was where he was because he had obeyed God, so God was going to take care of him. Charles commented that from that day on, whenever he was tempted to worry or fear, that picture would come back to him and the dread would vanish.

* * *

The Power of the Word

Maria: In spite of the vast ministry that God called Charles Stanley to, he always reminded everyone that it was only Jesus who got the credit for it all.

CS: “The gospel of Jesus Christ can penetrate the most hardened heart, transform that life and change the person’s eternal destiny. If there’s one thing that I have learned over these years, it is this: As Paul said, ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. For I’ve learned that it’s the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.’

“It’s a simple message that you can speak to several hundred or several thousand or several million people. If they are listening, they all hear what God is saying to them. God can take my voice or someone else’s voice, put it in some other language, let someone else say it, it doesn’t make any difference. It is the awesome power of the living Word of God. It can transform a life. It can absolutely transform a person’s eternal destiny.

“You and I have the most precious message the world has ever known or will ever know. And here’s what Isaiah said, ‘The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.’”

* * *

Staying Young in Spirit

And for those who might feel like they’re too old to be of use, consider what Charles said when he was 80 years old.

CS: “You know, people ask me about being 80, and I’ll tell you how I feel. I love it. I think the Lord has given me enough wisdom that I see things from a whole different perspective. I think the reason people just begin to shrivel up is because they give up their goals. And they don’t have anything that they really want to do in life. And so as far as I’m concerned, from the neck up, I’m a teenager. From there down, I’m probably 80. But so far, I’m doing good. And I love it.”

Maria: I hope you found these excerpts from Charles to be inspiring and encouraging, as I have. It is a privilege to be one of God’s messengers to the world, “the Bible in shoe leather,” as D. L. Moody said. You never know how far your witness and testimony will go. Even the small gestures—a smile, a word of encouragement, a sincere prayer for someone—can make a big difference in their life. Let’s keep strengthening our “habits of a godly life” day by day!

Originally published June 2023. Adapted and republished April 2026. Read by Lenore Welsh.

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