Faithfulness

This week I have been thinking a lot about faithfulness.  This past Wednesday, August 24, would have been my parent’s 55^th wedding anniversary.  My parents fulfilled their vow “to death do us part.”  For 52 years until my mother’s death Mom and Dad had eyes only for each other.  It was not always easy, it was not always fun, but in the end it was not just rewarding to them, but an example to us all.  They will not know, this side of heaven, the full impact that their faithfulness to each other had in the lives of so many us who watched them.

It seems sometimes that faithfulness is a rare commodity.  We live in a culture that seems to reward getting ahead, getting noticed and getting results. Ambition is often rewarded more than faithfulness.   But for those who follow Jesus faithfulness is to be a key characteristic of our daily lives.  Since our God is a faithful God (Deut. 7:9; Psalm 145:13; 1 Thess. 5:24; 1 John 1:9) we are to be faithful (1 Cor. 4:17; Col. 1:7).

To be faithful means one is reliable, trusted, believable, stable, and dependable.  A faithful person will perform whatever task is before them to the best of their ability and will see it through to the end.  Sometimes the person who is faithful, does not always get to see the results of their faithfulness.  For that one, the reward is that they know in the core of their being that they were faithful to what God had asked them to do and that is enough.

In a culture that is very results oriented faithfulness can be a foreign concept.  Faithfulness is not about wins or losses, profit margin, numeric growth, graded, publications or media recognition.  Faithfulness is about being true to one’s word, or one’s calling no matter the results.  As we follow Jesus; keep in mind that as he talked about the end of the age in Matthew chapters 24 and 25, he repeatedly emphasized faithfulness.  When we are faithful to do our best with the talents, abilities and resources that God has given us, He is pleased and we find a depth of satisfaction in our soul that while hard to describe is truly its own reward.  God notices faithfulness.

I follow Jesus best when I am faithful to serve him and others with all he has given me.

Lessons from Kidney Stones

Today as I write this installment of Following Jesus, I have three kidney stones lurking in my body.  Monday was not a good day, but the pain eventually subsided and I am scheduled to have the stones blasted away on Friday.  But today is Wednesday and one thing I know, is that until Friday, excruciating pain is imminent, a word that means “likely to occur at any moment.”  When you know something could happen at any moment that could leave you at best in agony and at worst land you in the hospital, you adjust your behavior accordingly.

I am pressing today to get the basics done which include Sunday’s sermon, my part of the weekly bulletin and this column.  I don’t know if or when the kidney stones may begin to move again and I want to be ready, just in case.  So today I am thinking about the concept of imminence and how in my circles it usually pertains to the return of Jesus Christ.

As I survey the teaching of Jesus concerning the end of this world, I find two emphases.  First of all, he never told us when he was coming and in fact he was very explicit that the day and the hour were unknown (Matthew 24:36-44).  His instructions were that his followers should always be ready and that the best way to be ready was actively serving God and others until Jesus returned.

Secondly, however, he promised that he would definitely return. For instance, as Jesus sought to give comfort to his disciples as he was preparing to go the cross, he reminded them of the fact that he would return (John 14:1-4).  He used the first century imagery of a groom preparing his house and them coming to take his bride home, the bride knew that the groom’s coming was imminent and she spent that year in constant readiness.  Moreover as Jesus ascended to heaven the angels reminded the disciples that he would return in the same way as they had watched him ascend (Acts 1:9-11).  The thrust of the New Testament writers is not a question of when Jesus is returning, it is that he is returning and it could be at any moment.

Jesus return is imminent and I am instructed to be ready every day for that event.  What the reality doesn’t mean is that I quit living and just sit on my haunches and wait.  What it does mean is that if I have put my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross for my sins then I live every day to the full.  Not by indulging myself, but by doing my best to faithfully serve God and others by the power of the Holy Spirit in me.  I go to work each day and give my employer my best energy and attention.  I go to school each day and show respect to my teachers and do my best in my assignments.  I love my neighbor as myself and actively seek to connect and serve them and engage in spiritual conversations so that one day they too can trust Christ and follow him.  I make corporate worship and service at church a priority in my life, using my God given gifts and talents to make my church a safe place where God’s love and his truth are available to all.  I pray, plan, prepare and live my life with the express understanding that today Jesus could come back.

The hard part is when today ends and it has been very hard, and I am discouraged and I wonder if it is worth it.  It is easy to lose our excitement over a promise that seems to never come.  But this is where as a Follower of Jesus I rediscover faith.  True faith is trusting Jesus at his word even when I don’t see clear evidence.  I trust him because he is God and he gave me his promise and that alone needs to be enough.