Why Faithfulness is Essential to Your Life
Faithfulness might be the most important quality you can have in life.
In recent days, my mom celebrated her 90th birthday and, nearing his 93rd birthday, my Uncle left this earth for heaven. Reflecting on their lives, as well as my dad’s, I see the common thread of faithfulness as being all important.
Often, we chase success and it’s easy to get caught in the success-mania trap. It almost had me earlier this year. That pursuit is stressful and elusive. Success is also notoriously difficult to define.
For the follower of Jesus, faithfulness is far more important. From a worldly perspective the career path and success of my dad and my uncle looked very different. My dad was a small church pastor and my uncle was a pastor, missionary and top church administrator. But from the perspective of the kingdom, they were both servants who followed God’s leadership faithfully.
What is faithfulness?
To be faithful is to follow Jesus wherever he leads. That is simple but not always easy. Faithfulness is proved only in the difficult circumstances of life because it is easy to follow when everything is going smoothly.
We face the constant seductions of success, recognition and acquisition. Our culture tells us that these things are of the utmost importance and will define our lives. However, these things are elusive and non-achievable! Because no matter how successful, famous or rich we become, there is always someone more successful, famous or rich. We can never seem to get to the top!
We can, however, be faithful.
Your circumstances do not matter. We are born into different circumstances over which we have no control. Wealth, gender, ethnicity, culture and native language are given to us at birth. We exert no influence or control over these things.
As we begin to follow Jesus, we are reminded that as he followed his Father, we are to follow him. Faithfulness was the hallmark of their relationship and is essential to us as well.
Faithful in…
Faithfulness takes on many different aspects. Here are five.
Salvation. Our first call to faithfulness comes when we are saved. We have a new life and a new family. We become children of God. That entails incredible privilege and awesome responsibility. As we live a new life, a transformed life, we become faithful to the call to be his children, followers of his Son.
Sanctification. To be sanctified is to be set apart for God’s special use. One of the aspects of sanctification is purification. God wants his children to be holy. That is part of his special call on our lives. We are to be faithful to do our part to live that holy life. He will empower us as we endeavor to be holy.
Lifestyle. Our lives must reflect the glory and the purposes of God. Faithfulness means we are constantly aware of who God is, what he values and what he is doing in the world. We become faithful to that mission every day.
Compassion. Throughout scripture, we clearly see that compassion is of paramount importance to God. Our faithfulness to compassionate ministry means we are devoted to expressing God’s love to the last, the lost and the least. We become blind to the distinctions that society uses to categorize people and instead look beyond race, gender, sexual orientation, wealth or nationality.
Obedience. Faithfulness really comes down to obedience. Doing what God wants us to do every hour of every day. When we follow Jesus unconditionally, we willingly go into the valley, strive during trials, ignore hardship and joyfully embrace his leadership.
Get Serious
Today, I want to encourage you to remain faithful during these challenging days. Don’t give up and don’t give in. God will greatly reward your faithfulness and you will help change the world for the better! Continue to be part of something far greater than any one of us. God’s kingdom deserves faithful service. Let’s be part of it!
Recent Comments