When thinking about the idea of faithfulness, I was drawn to both the times when I was a child and when I was a parent. As I child I received promises from my parents that were never fulfilled. As a parents, I issued promises that I did not fulfill. It is easy to respond to the insistence of our children to say we will do such and such on such and such a time. But we really mean it. The result of our
unfaithfulness to our children leaves them with a distorted view of our heavenly Father who is always faithful and keeps all His promises. In fairness, we do keep some of our promises but not all of them.
We would appreciate GOD if we failed to keep His promises. How could we trust Him with salvation if He failed to keep His word on the little things? So, what are some of the promises of GOD that we are so important to our life. The following is a list of some of these promise that we can take to the bank:
I will never leave you or forsake you, Hebrew 13:5, which referred to Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:5. This promise is very reassuring for the unfaithfulness of humans will leave and forsake us, but GOD will never do that. I like the part in the ‘Footprints’ poem where the two sets of footprints become one set, and the person questions Christ on why He left him. Jesus responds, “the one set of footprints is when I carried you through your trial.” We can sometimes feel all alone but GOD is always there, and we can count on His faithfulness.
No one can snatch you out of My hand, John 10:28, 29. We can sometimes come to a point of doubting our salvation, but Jesus is very clear that if we stayed focused on Him then we cannot be taken from HIS hand. In this sense we are eternally secure, but if we are unfaithful to Christ, then we may wander from His hand and place our salvation in jeopardy. But love of GOD is always drawing us to Him so it would take a very hard heart to wander from Jesus. GOD bestows His kindness on us as stated in Jeremiah 31:3: The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. We can count on the faithfulness of GOD to constantly draw us to Him by His love and kindness to us.
If I go away, I will come back for you, John 14:1-3: Jesus was ready to leave this world to go to the Father, and He wanted to give His disciples the assurance that He will come back for them. Jesus is not promising us mere victory while we are on the earth, but He is promising us a future in heaven after He returns. We are going to a place where there is no more pain, suffering or death. This is a great promise, and we can count on the faithfulness of GOD to honor His word.
There are just three of the many promises that GOD has given us in His Word. We now need to focus on the other side of faithfulness which involves us. Faithful means to be full of faith. Faith is a gift of GOD, Romans 12:3: So, by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think in a way that results in sound judgment, as God distributed a measure of faith to each of you. GOD gives us a measure of faith and then He will expect us to build on what He has given to us.
We build our faith by trusting in GOD in all our situations of life. When we cannot find our car keys, we pray to GOD, and He helps us to find them. We are building on that measure of faith. When we have a problem with a co-worker or neighbor and GOD intervenes to bring harmony, then we are building on the measure of faith. It is important that we keep building of faith by trusting in GOD and seeing Him comes through for us as He promised He world.
The quantity of our faith is not as important as the presence of faith. Some people try to discourage us by telling us that we don’t have enough faith. But Jesus responds to that point by the following, Matthew 17:19, 20: Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why were we unable to drive it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen I tell you: If you have faith like a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
And even if we have some unbelief, we can pray this prayer of faith as did the father of spirit possessed boy, Mark 9:23, 24: “If you can?” Jesus said to him. “All things are possible for the one who believes.” The child’s father immediately cried out and said with tears, “I do believe. Help me with my unbelief!”
Let us be full of faith in GOD as He is faithful in His promises to us.