Faithfulness: An Overview

"The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He." -Deuteronomy 32:4

"Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens,Your faithfulness reaches to the skies." -Psalm 36:5

Faithfulness... what a wonderful, and yet scarce, quality! Our society today is all about loopholes and excuses...

Friends, it's time that we, as Christians, rise up and become people of our word! I am saddened to think that the divorce rate is equal, if not higher, among self-proclaiming Christians as it is among those who hold no claims to faith. What has happened to " 'Til death do us part" ??? Why can we no longer be faithful to our word? Because... it is easier to find excuses or "reasons" why not to persevere through the harder things that life brings!

What have we become? It used to be that a handshake would seal a deal between to parties, but now everything is in writing... we are no longer people of our word!

Thanks be to God, that He is immutable... never changing! He is the same today and tomorrow and forever! His promises from His Word will never become void! He does not change His mind, but is faithful... even when we are faithless! We have a hope for faithfulness because our God is still faithful to us. We must, in turn, become faithful followers of Christ and, from that, become faithful in all that we say and do.

Integrity really comes into play when you talk about faithfulness. Integrity is doing what you know is right even when nobody else is watching... meaning that you aren't doing the right thing just to be noticed, but because you have faithfulness embedded into you. So, faithfulness must already be a part of your character before you can ever hope to have integrity. You must desire faithfulness above an easier alternative.

We must be willing to sacrifice our own comfort in an attempt to be examples to those around us of the faithfulness of our God. We are the visible and tangible evidence of God's work in our lives. Therefore, we must mirror His attributes to those around us. "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us..." (2 Corinthians 5:20).

However, as I have said many times before, this is not something that we can achieve on our own. Just as a love that honors and glorifies God must come from God, He must also be the source of our faithfulness. Any attempt at faithfulness, through our own efforts, will only end in failure. It is only through prayer and diligent study of God's Word that we will ever become the faithful children that we are commanded to be.

So, as we delve deeper into this study this week... we must remember to cover all of our efforts in prayer and in God's Word. Memorizing the verses that speak of His faithfulness will help us to remember and be more confident in the faithfulness of our God as well. Do not try to cultivate faithfulness without the help of the Holy Spirit.

Friends, let us be faithful to our God, this week, and remember that "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." (James 1:17). Ask God to give you the desire for faithfulness, to persevere when things aren't easy. I anticipate this being a very rewarding and very interesting week of study... I hope you will continue to join me in this endeavor for godliness in every aspect of life. Friends, God bless, and I can't wait to take the next step!

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .

P.S. - A special thanks to Abigail Gamm for her input in todays blog! Thanks Abby!