Faithful and True

One who searches Scripture cannot manage to escape the faithfulness of God: it’s the ink that forms the print and is present everywhere from “in the beginning” to “come, Lord Jesus.” His promises, His acts, His attitudes, His character—it’s all steeped in His faithfulness.

Our culture doesn’t value faithfulness very highly, and the “muchness” of the concept has leaked out like an old balloon. Can we take just a minute to restore its substance? (I promise it matters.) Faithfulness is the quality of being firm in adherence to promises or steadfast in affection; it’s a deep loyalty or unswerving reliability; and it implies a long-continued, consistent fidelity. Sound like something from an old dictionary? Let’s apply it to you.

The God who created volcanoes is firmly adhering to every promise He’s made to you (and there are so many).

The God who stood outside of time and set it in motion is steadfast in His affection for you.

The God who established the rise and fall of ancient empires has a fierce and deep loyalty to you.*

The God who has named every star in the cosmos proves to you day after day His unswerving reliability.

The God who dreamed you up back before your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents fell in love holds a long-continued and consistent fidelity toward you.

A couple of important clarifications:

God’s faithfulness does not mean that there will be no darkness. You will not get everything you want, and your life won’t look absolutely perfect all the time. (That’s the thing with serving a risen Lord rather than a slavish genie. One expects your comfort, the other your life.)

God’s faithfulness does mean that in the middle of the darkness, you can trust the promises He’s given you. He loves you and wants your best, even if that can only come through a season of suffering.

Some people lie. God never will. Some people forget to keep their word. God can’t. Some people don’t have the means to follow through. God is able to do anything; He’s never failed, and He won’t start now. Is there something you’ve been holding on to that you need to give up? Something He’s asked you to do that you’ve been unsure about? Just trust Him and jump.

*At first take, this statement seems to glorify humanity. Think deeper, though. Apart from Christ, we aren’t worth diddly squat—in that state, God calls us His enemies, tiny pathetic rebels without heart or hope. But the gospel is that everything that was wrong with us is now Christ’s, and everything that was right with Christ is now ours. God the Father loves His Son immensely, and because we are crucified with Him and resurrected in Him, God loves us just as immensely. It’s not a pride-inducing thought; it’s humbling! We didn’t do anything to earn it, and we can’t do anything to lose it. God is loyal for His own glory’s sake. This makes much of Him, not of us.