Faithfulness

There are two sides to “faithfulness; the “faithfulness” of God and the “faithfulness” of man. We begin this article by looking at the “faithfulness” of God.

Anyone who has ever read a Bible will certainly agree that God is faithful. As a matter of fact “faithfulness” perfectly describes the nature of God: (Isa. 49:7) “Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.” (1 Cor. 1:9) “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”(1 Thess 5:24) “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” Even before God created man He was faithful in that He had pre-determined a plan that would eventually be carried out to save a sinful creature. The “faithfulness” of God is even called “GREAT”: (Lam. 3:21-23) “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.  ²²It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  ²³They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” You and I too can have hope of eternal life in heaven because of the “faithfulness” of God!

The “faithfulness” of God is incomparable: (Psa. 89:8) “O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?” We must admit that our “faithfulness” does not begin to compare to the “faithfulness” of God. God has declared that His “faithfulness’ will not fail: (Psa. 89:33) “Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.” The message here is very plain; we can count on God to do what He has said He will do! Even though it has been many years since God declared His “faithfulness would not fail” people of all generations can rely on God to do what he said: (Psa. 119:90) “Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.”

Now we turn to the “faithfulness” of man [of course I’m referring to all mankind, both male and female]. The apostle Paul recognized that there were faithful saints [I.e. Christians] in the church at Ephesus: (Eph. 1:1) “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:” Please notice that Paul does not say they are faithful to him; rather he wrote they were “faithful in Christ Jesus”. Friends, this is where our faith must be directed; in Christ Jesus! Paul also recognized that there were faithful Christians at Colosse: (Col. 1:2) “To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Here there can be no mistake to whom Paul is referring; he is referring to the “faithful brethren”. Therefore, I must conclude that it is possible for you and I to be faithful!

I would like to discuss a few of the areas in which we must be faithful! First, we must be faithful in declaring the word of God: (Jer. 23:28) “The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.” We must be faithful in helping the brethren and the strangers: (3 John 5) “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;” We must be faithful in bearing witness: (Prov. 14:5) “A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.” This means that we will be honest in what we say and teach [in other words we will only say and teach what the Word of God authorizes us to teach]. Let us look to the preachers of old and give Book, Chapter and Verse! To sum it up we must be faithful in all things: (1 Tim. 3:11) “Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.” The men must apply this as well as the women!

How long do we have to be faithful? The Word of God says until death: (Rev. 2:10) “be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”