Faithful
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “faithful”? Your spouse? A pet? An appliance or tool? A friend? Semper Fi? Rain in the Puget Sound area? “Old Faithful” at Yellowstone National Park? The Mariners playoff drought (20 years…the longest active postseason drought in the four major men’s North American sports—I’m not bitter)?
Faithfulness is an essential part of human existence and well-being. If your heart stopped beating, well, you know, you die. If gravity changed by only 1 in 1060 part (we have 1014 cells in our body), we would all stop existing. If you can’t stop being unreliable as a person, your relationships will fall apart sooner or later.
Unfaithfulness leads to all kinds of repercussions like broken relationships, pink slips, repossessions, distrust, dishonor, and loss of credibility just to name a few of the painful effects. “Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in a time of trouble” (Prov. 25:19).
There are at least four things to learn about faithfulness from God’s perspective.
God exemplifies faithfulness: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23). Even “if we are faithless, He remains faithful” (2 Tim. 2:13). He will never lie. He always keeps His “faithful word” (Titus 1:9) as our “faithful Creator” (1 Pet. 4:19), “faithful High Priest” (Heb. 2:17), and “faithful witness” (Rev. 1:5; 3:14; 19:11).
God expects faithfulness: “In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy” (1 Cor. 4:2). “Be faithful until death” (Rev. 2:10). Can the Lord and others around you count on you?
God empowers faithfulness: “The fruit of the Spirit is…faithfulness” (Gal. 5:22–23). Don’t try to rely upon your own strength to be a faithful servant of the Lord, but cooperate with the Spirit’s enabling power (Gal. 3:3).
God evaluates faithfulness: In the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14–30), we can glean three basic truths: (1) We all have God-given assets (God “entrusted his possessions” for us to manage), and (2) God-given abilities (God gives “each according to his own ability”), and will face a (3) God-given assessment (He will return to “settle accounts”).
This is a simple question to answer. Would you rather hear “well done, good and faithful slave” (Matt. 25:23) or “You wicked, lazy slave” (Matt. 25:26)? The answer is obvious.
God said, “Many a person proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy person?” Let’s seek to be trustworthy!
Pastor Jeff