This week I have been thinking a lot about faithfulness. This past Wednesday, August 24, would have been my parent’s 55th 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.
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