faithful ones

“Well done good and faithful servant…"(Matthew. 25:23)
 
These are the words we want stringed together at the end of our lives as we stand before our Righteous and Holy God.

These are also the words we should want to hear daily. 
 
Faithfulness is daily.
 
Our walk with the Lord and in the Lord doesn't promise us earthly benefits. This path will be one with warfare and struggles, but He assures us of the Joy that is set before us in being with our Father, forever, in Heaven. What great reward! What great Hope!
 
It’s this Hope that pushes us to be faithful. It’s what allows us to “count it all joy when we face hardships and various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result so that we may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing” (James 1: 2-4).
 
The truth is, we don’t drift into faithfulness. We must daily choose to fix and gaze our eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of our Faith (Hebrews 12:2).
 
Faithfulness looks like opening our Word when everything in our flesh wants to sleep more or get other things done. It looks like heading over to Bible Study when we rather be alone. It's in our loving and bearing each other’s burdens even when we've been hurt by others (Galatians 6). It's in our joyfully serving in our local church, loving the fellowship with one another-no matter what our personality type. It's in our commitment to prayer, not giving up or losing heart even when our prayers haven't been answered. 

He delights in our faithfulness.
 
Sadly, we live in a world that is allergic to faithfulness. If something (or someone for that matter) doesn’t feel good or it’s uncomfortable, then move on to the next thing. If it’s not feeding your desires, why stick with it? Why struggle when there are so many options to experience freedom? This is the stream we have to swim up against. While faithfulness doesn’t come naturally to us, it’s a daily pursuit that is built as we rely on the Holy Spirit to draw us nearer to God.
 
Our faithfulness to Him strengthens as we focus on His faithfulness to us. His Word reminds us that when we were deep in our sin, having no desire to know Him or love Him, He died for us (Romans 5:8).  He extended His grace and mercy when we didn’t (and never will) deserve it. What’s more astounding is that He is faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him because He can’t deny who He is (2 Timothy 2:13). It’s His character to be faithful. This shows us that it was never on the basis of our works or our faithfulness to Him that allowed us to encounter such love. It has always and will always be about Him. He can’t go against who He is. This is encouraging to our faith.
 
We are quick to associate His faithfulness to us based on our faithfulness to Him, leaving us in an unstable relationship with the Lord, always wondering if we are loved by Him or secure in Him. We lack the true peace and joy that is assured in Him when we are constantly looking at our relationship with Him like our other human relationships. We must realize that God is not man that He should lie. For those of us who love and fear Him, He doesn’t deal with us according to our unfaithfulness (Psalm 103:10) because if that was the case, He wouldn’t have dealt with us at all. He deals with us according to His loving-kindness. According to His love. According to His faithfulness (Isaiah 63:7). We need to rest in these Truths.
 
His unfading faithfulness conforms us to His image, daily sanctifying us in Him so that our lives will grow brighter and clearer in representing Him.
 
May we treasure His faithfulness to us. His Word is filled with the richness of every faithful promise to those who love and fear Him. May we also treasure those in our lives who are faithful to Him. They are ones whom we should look to and glean from. Their faithfulness is a testament to His goodness and never-ending love. May we pursue to emulate that faithfulness as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
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The weekly devotionals seek to encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture as you take the time to daily read, meditate, and internalize the verses in the devotional, along with the passages provided below to give greater context. Take the time to read them throughout the week (repetition is important) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grasp what God is showing you about Himself, about you, and how to live in light of these truths. 

Passages to read/meditate/memorize:


Isaiah 63:7
Psalm 103:10
Romans 5
James 1:2-4
Hebrews 12:2
Galatians 6
2 Peter 3:18
2 Timothy 2:13
 
 
Questions to reflect on:
 
1. Write down the ways in which you have seen God’s faithfulness over your life.
 
 2. How have you remained faithfulness to the Lord? What makes it easy or hard to do so?
 
3. Take this week to meditate on the Scriptures (like the ones above and others) that show you and remind you of God’s faithfulness to you.​