Called to Be Faithful

Mark Hatfield tells of touring Calcutta with Mother Teresa and visiting the so-called "House of Dying," where sick children are cared for in their last days, and the dispensary, where the poor line up by the hundreds to receive medical attention.

Watching Mother Teresa minister to these people, feeding and nursing those left by others to die, Hatfield was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the suffering she and her co-workers face daily. "How can you bear the load without being crushed by it?" he asked. Mother Teresa replied, "My dear Senator, I am not called to be successful, I am called to be faithful."

Faithful means keeping faith, staying loyal. It describes God in His relationship to human believers. the faithfulness of God and His word is a content theme in the Bible. God is faithful to His children because He is first of all faithful to Himself (II Timothy 2:13) “if we believe not, yet He abides faithful; He cannot deny Himself”. “truth” is used as a synonym for “faithfulness”. Since God is always true, He can logically be trusted (Psalms 71:22; Isaiah 61:8).

God commands us to be faithful (I Corinthians 4:1-2) “let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful”.

The Bible is chock full of people with exemplary faithfulness to God. Daniel was found faithful (Daniel 6:3-4) says “then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. God says in Number 12:6-8 “hear now My words; if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord Yahweh will make Myself known to him, in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream. Moses was so faithful that God actually spoke to him in person, or " mouth to mouth."

Paul was also faithful. In fact his strong belief and faithfulness in God persuaded him to turn his whole life around! He said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course” and in (I Timothy 1:12-13) he says “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief”.

Faithfulness, then, is not a one-time act, rather, it is an attitude that should characterize the entire life of those, who say they have faith in God. The good news is that faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit and as we are led by the Spirit, the fruit will spill over into our lives.

Let’s look at the rewards of being faithful (Proverbs 28:20) says “a faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he that makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent”. In (Psalms 31:23) it says “God preserves the faithful”. I think the greatest reward is to hear Him say “well done good and faithful servant”.

Scripture readings: Matthew 25:23; Hebrews 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 John 1:9; Hebrews 10:23; Hebrews 3:5; 1 Peter 4:19; 1 Samuel 2:35.

Prayer:

Father, You lead us through the valleys and mountain top experiences of everyday life. Your ways are far superior to the path we might choose when guided by our own limited wisdom. We’re so grateful for the strength and encouragement we receive from our brothers and sisters who bear our burdens and share in our joys. When considering the choice of walking faithfully with you or turning to our old way of life, we join with Simon Peter who weighed the options and declared, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Have a blessed day,

Carolyn