More Thoughts about Faithfulness

Senator 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.”

We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table— ‘Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.’ But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there.

Listen to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, ‘Get lost.’ Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home.

Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it’s harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul.

F.B Meyer once said, “Don’t waste your time waiting and longing for large opportunities which may never come. But faithfully handle the little things that are always claiming your attention.”

Faithfulness

To be faithful means to be reliable, trustworthy, dependable and consistent. And it’s wonderful when you can find people like that. People you can count on! You can be talented, creative and educated, but if you’re not dependable, you won’t get far.

The Bible says God rewards faithfulness. In Matthew 25, Jesus says that one day God is going to judge us and it will be on our faithfulness: what we did for Him – and we’ll be rewarded in heaven.

The author lists 8 things we can do to develop faithfulness in our lives.

1.Keep your promises. First of all we need to be careful about the promises we make. Don’t promise to pray for someone if you aren’t going to do. Don’t be the person who never arrives when they say they will. Or promises their kids they’ll take them somewhere and then never does. Or promises a spouse that you’ll fix something – and never get around to it. Broken promises are a big part of resentment. Ecclesiastes 5:5 says, “It is better not to vow then to make a vow and not fulfill it.”

2.Honor your marriage. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage should be honored by all.” This means “to hold in respect” “to value with high esteem.” You honor the vows you took, like the other fruits, as a choice you make.

3.Use your talents. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in various forms.” Warren says this means if we don’t use the talents God gave us, other people will be cheated because we’re not contributing what God has uniquely equipped us to provide.

4.Make the most of your time. The best use of your time is to use it in something that is going to outlast you. And we shouldn’t waste time with regret and worry. When we regret the past, we waste huge amounts of time looking backward to change something we can’t change anyway. When we worry about the future we waste time fretting over events that may never happen. And God says to be faithful now, not “when the kids are in school” or when I retire” – but, right now.

5.Stand by your friends. Proverbs 17:17 says, “A true friend is always loyal and a brother is born to help in time of need.” Genuine friends are reliable and consistent. They can be counted on in a crisis.

6.Manage your money. God says that if you are not faithful with your material possessions, he will not trust you with spiritual resources (that’s from Luke 16:11) We should plan prayerfully what we will give to the Lord and do it regularly.

7.Do your best at work. (Luke 16:10) Life is largely made up of little things, so if we’re not faithful in the little things, we won’t be faithful in most of life. The same is true with spiritual growth. The little things: daily quiet time and prayer, produce big results. Success comes from being faithful in the little things that other people may overlook. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for man.” Warren says Christians should have a reputation for being the most dependable people at work because they are always aware of who their true boss is.

8.Commit yourself to a church. A local body of believers. Christians are in a spiritual battle whether they know it or not and need support and reinforcement. A church membership is a commitment to other Christians. It’s a decision to become a participant, not merely a spectator. Not a consumer, but a contributor.

Jesus told the parable about the master who went away and left His servants in charge.

(Read Matthew 25:14-30) Jesus has left us in charge of His business here on earth and one day He will come back. When He returns, will He find us faithful?

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Christians, Trials and Jesus

Christians are not promised a trial free life. If they were, people would flock to Christianity for all the wrong reasons. Also a trial free life does not allow faith to grow. If we know for a fact that we would never get sick, or that if we did it wouldn’t be serious, or that we would live to a ripe old age and then die in our sleep, or never have financial worries, we wouldn’t lean on God to get us through however He pleases.

People find it especially hard to understand when something happens to a person who seems to be doing exactly what God wants: a missionary killed on his way to a mission trip, someone trying to save someone’s life and himself dying in the process.

This is where we can go to the Bible and find comfort and meaning.

Most people have heard the story of the three young men who were thrown into the fire for refusing to worship the king and instead only worshipping their God. Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego were doing God’s will and God could have kept them from the furnace. He could have had the king change his mind or even have all the people involved totally forget about it, but He didn’t. He let them be thrown into a furnace that was so hot it killed some of the guards close by. Later, when other guards looked in, they saw not three, but four men. What does this tell us? God didn’t keep them from the furnace, but He came down into it with them!

And when we are at our lowest and most miserable, we should look around, because that’s when God is closest and He will be with us every step of the way!

If the family worships together and trusts God for guidance, God will surely bless each member with the wisdom and courage to meet all problems that arise.

“No perfume is more costly and more aromatic to God than the faithfulness of believers who are suffering.”