Today’s Reading
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23 NASB)
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23 NASB)
What comes to your mind when you hear the word faithful? Thoughts might be along the line of: dedicated, steadfast, devoted, dependable, or dutiful and thorough. Being faithful is not always easy, is it? Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control show up in the conduct and choices of our own individual Christian lives. It hinges upon what we value as important along with our commitment to it. Humans have a powerful tendency to be faithful to what they think is truly important. Being faithful is believing that God is who He says He is and not faltering even when life gets hard. It means we trust what God says in the Bible, and not what the world or our own eyes tell us. We are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful. We are to be faithful to our Lord with the gifts, abilities and opportunities He gives us and we need to leave the results to Him. Being constantly faithful can be difficult at times, because temptations are all around us. But we must make conscious choices to follow God.
God is always faithful to us, even when we are not faithful to Him. He is always by our side, even when we do not seek Him or even notice He is there. He always keeps his promises. When our son was a senior in high school we found out he had cancer. God prompting our church family to rally around us will always be etched in our minds and hearts. His faithfulness to us in our time of need gave us the peace and comfort we so desperately needed. “Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” (Psalm 6:5 NASB) The full extent of our influence through faithfulness may not always be known to human eyes, but always to God.
Reflection
Take a little time to sit quietly before God and ask Him:
– Show us areas we need to improve in our faithfulness.
– How faithful are we behind closed doors, when no one else can see or know our choices?
– Do we tend to “take things back” when life gets tough, or stand firm and faithful?
– What is it that we value as important enough in our lives to be completely faithful?
Prayer
Dear Father, thank You for being our greatest example of faithfulness. Teach us to be more like You, giving us ways to demonstrate our faithfulness to You and others. Help us identify the temptations that may take us away from You. Give us strength to remain faithful, even in the most trying and difficult moments of our lives. Thank You, Jesus, for Your loving care toward us. In Your precious name, amen.