Faithfulness

It was a stormy night in Birmingham, England, and the famous missionary, Hudson Taylor, was to speak at a meeting at the Seven Street schoolroom. His hostess assured him that nobody would attend on such a stormy night, but Taylor insisted on going. “I must go even if there is no one but the doorkeeper.” As it turned out, less than a dozen people showed up, but the meeting was marked with unusual spiritual power. Half of those present either became missionaries or gave their children as missionaries; and the rest were faithful supporters of the China Inland Mission for years to come. Hudson Taylor was committed to serving the Savior regardless of names (who showed up) or numbers (how many showed) or the nature of the situation (stormy conditions) and God honored his faithfulness.

If Hudson Taylor had been like, "Dude, I don't want to get my head wet," or, "I'll probably get struck by lightning," or, "It's just not worth braving the storm for nothing," he would have missed out on this opportunity for God to use Him and bless the mission he would go on to become the founder of. Those weren't the only people that ever supported him or volunteered as missionaries, but if Hudson hadn't gone to the meeting, they probably would never have gotten involved. And who knows, maybe if that group hadn't gotten involved, then the China Inland Mission would never have had quite the same impact it did in changing people's lives for eternity. You never can know how your commitment to be faithful (or your lack of commitment) might affect others. So, it's important to always be faithful no matter what. Even though it may not seem important, it probably is. Don't make commitments you aren't sure you can keep. If you've ever had someone back out on something they said they would do, you know it's not at all a good experience. So we need to try our best to not be the kind of person that would do that ourselves.

One example of where we especially need faithfulness would be with our family and friends. A true friend is worthy of trust and completely reliable. Nobody wants a friend or family member who's just out for themselves and doesn't really care about anybody else. You're not being a trustworthy person if you go and spread secrets or gossip about your friends or family members to your other friends. The best friends are those you know you can trust completely that would never talk about you behind your back. Friends that you know will stick with you through everything. And since we know those friends are the best to have, we all need to be that kind of a friend as well.

Proverbs 25:26 "Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked."

This verse can relate to peer pressure. When you give in to doing something you know is wrong just because everyone else is doing it and you don't want to seem weird, you aren't being a very faithful Christian. Probably all of us have done this before at some point, because we're still human and mess up. But just remember, we need to be faithful to the standards in the Bible that God has given us, even if no one else understands.

Proverbs 28:20 "A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished."

This is talking about being faithful in your work. It could be whatever you're given to do, a job or school. If you don't do your school, and expect to get good grades, you're going to be sadly disappointed. If you're lazy at work, but expect to get rich at the same time, you're not going to find much fulfillment in that and it probably won't work out very well for you.

When I think of faithfulness, I often think of marriage. That, of course, is an immensely important area where faithfulness is so vital. It seems like marriage means so little in our country anymore, and couples don't take their vows seriously at all. They're promising there at the altar to be faithful to each other until death separates them. And yet, so often, one of them is unfaithful and destroys that commitment, which could likely lead to divorce. And a lot of divorces don't even have to do with that though. It could be a bunch of stupid disagreements that lead to ending their marriage or they'll claim they "fell out of love" and it just didn't work out. And so, most people have no problem with backing out on this immense binding commitment. 

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 "To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife."

Divorce is all around us, and it's really sad to see the lack of loyalty in so many broken marriages. And what's really sad is that the divorce rate for couples claiming to be be Christians is about the same or maybe even a little higher than the divorce rate for couples that don't profess faith in Christ. We, as Christians have been given so much, and have such an incredible example of unconditional love in our Savior, and yet, because so few Christians understand what it means to truly love someone, they give up because the feelings seem to be gone, and/or their husband or wife doesn't "deserve" their love anymore. Guess what? The feelings aren't all that counts. Of course, that's where love often starts, with that attraction, and that's ok. That's the way God designed it to be. But if that's all your love is based on, sooner or later that relationship is likely to fail. And this could go for a dating relationship too. True love, the same love Christ has for us, is a choice. A commitment to never give up. If you don't love someone anymore, that means you're choosing to stop loving them, or you never really chose to love them in the first place.

Proverbs 20:6 "Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?" 

This verse could go for men or women, of course. But it kinda sounds like a guy that tells his girlfriend or fiance how much he loves her, but then leaves her for someone else because he was just playing with her heart and didn't really love her after all. And it's not as serious when two people are dating or engaged to break off the relationship as when they're married, obviously. But it's not wise to get involved in any type of relationship too quickly if you're not sure about it, or aren't sure the other person is completely honest about their love. And for those that aren't dating, engaged, or married, it's like the Bible says, "One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much." So, it's something you should be developing now in all the friendships and relationships you have as Proverbs 3:3 demonstrates: "Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart."

And then. most importantly, we need to be faithful to God. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." We have to be careful to not put anything or anyone before God. He deserves all our loyalty, and we should love Him above all else. It's something that's easy to fail at as we often take Him for granted and don't give Him enough of a place in our lives, but it's important to remember

1 Samuel 12:24 "Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you."

He's been completely faithful to us, and asks that we do the same for Him.

Matthew 10:22 "And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved."

It doesn't matter what or who gets in the way and wants to destroy our relationship with God, we need to endure. Probably none of us will never be persecuted for what we believe like Christians are in some places in the world, but there's still a lot of things that can keep us from God. Follow Jesus, not the world.

The best example of faithfulness, and all of the fruits of the Spirit, of course, is God Himself. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God is faithful to His promises. 

Psalm 89:1 "I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations." 

Psalm 119:89-90 "Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast." 

Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." 

Jesus was faithful even unto death as Galatians 2:20 brings out so clearly: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." He's our ultimate example of faithfulness, and through His power, we can be faithful too.