“His Lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things…” – Mathew 25:23 (NKJV)
As a kingdom citizen, there’s no doubt you place a high value on God’s faithfulness. It is that beloved reality of what God has promised, and He is well able to perform it. We believe that Christ supports the entire universe by the word of His power, as affirmed in Hebrews 1:3. As such, our existence and eternal future depend on God being true to His Word.
God, being true to His Word, encapsulates what it means to be a faithful person. There must be consistency between what we say and what we do. What we believe and how we behave, what was promised, and what is performed. Therefore, when the Bible describes someone as being faithful, it not only refers to how much faith that person possesses but also how much faith others can place in that person and how much one trusts Jesus to perform what He promises. A faithful person puts their trust in Jesus.
How might we resolve to become more faithful disciples of Jesus? We can start by practising Psalm 37:3 “Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness”. We should cultivate and devote ourselves to developing faithfulness until it becomes part of us. When we choose to increase bodily strength, it is done through the exercise of the physical body. Therefore, we must exercise our minds to grow in faith. And most importantly, we must not give in to the part of us that presents all kinds of reasons why we should give up. We must push through against that internal and external resistance.
We all like the idea of building new, healthy, fruitful habits, but we all find it hard to consistently perform the habit until it becomes part of how we function. It is difficult to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness. 1 Timothy 4:7 tells us that the only way to become more faithful is to exercise ourselves towards faithfulness, i.e., cultivate faithfulness, feed on faithfulness, befriend faithfulness, and devote ourselves to developing faithfulness until it becomes part of us.
Friends, we do not need anything special or some ‘special faithfulness membership’ card to begin growing our capacity for faithfulness. We have everything we need right now, right where we find ourselves. Jesus tells us, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much…” (Luke 16:10).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, forgive us for not being faithful as we should. We choose, Lord, to trust in You and do good, to dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness as commanded in Your Word in Psalm 37:3. We choose to devote ourselves to faithfulness and be men and women who are more consistent with being true to Your Word. This we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Read: Romans 4:21; 1 Timothy 4:7
Bible Reading Guide: Psalms 119:97-104; 2 Timothy 4; Jeremiah 51:15-64
