This post is published as a companion to Unit 4, Session 4 of The Gospel Project for Adults Vol. 2 (Winter 2021-22): From Captivity to the Wilderness.
Being faithful is more difficult today than ever. Partly because it’s not as expected in our current world. You shouldn’t be tied down to anyone or anything, people say. You can leave behind anything and anyone if it accomplishes your dreams. We are not tethered to any one thing or person. Individuality and freedom are valued above all else.
So, job turnaround is higher than ever. Divorce rates are higher than ever. People church hop more than ever. And families seem to be split, with members living all around the world more than ever. I don’t have stats to back this up, but it just seems this is the way of our world. Not every part of this news is necessarily bad or evil, however. Missionaries need to leave their families to evangelize in other nations. People need to change jobs to provide for their famiies. People need to change churches if theology is wrong. But it does teach us something about our society. We have no loyalties. Some of us long for faithfulness, but we also struggle to be faithful.
One who is Faithful
The Bible, however, shows us true faithfulness. It reveals to us the story of someone who is always faithful. That someone is God. In fact, the Bible is the story of God’s faithfulness to His people. Through the Bible, we understand what a covenant is, a binding promise between two parties that is unbreakable. Marriage is supposed to be a covenant, but because of the Fall, we as sinners have changed its definition. God is the only person who can truly maintain His covenants. God’s covenants with His people throughout the Bible hold true and focuses on restoring our relationship with Him. Since the Fall, He has been desiring that all return to Him. Through His covenants, He promised to deliver His people and let us reign with Him one day. And through Jesus Christ, He has fulfilled His covenants. When we believe and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are in a covenant with God where He will never leave us or forsake us or break his covenant.
Our Pursuit of Faithfulness
Clearly, God is faithful because He is God, but how can we be faithful to Him and those around us? We will sin and we will break our promises. But repentance and forgiveness is the key to being faithful. We may not be perfect, but we can choose to repent when we’ve done something wrong, when we’ve broken a promise, when we don’t do what we say we will. Because of the Fall, the world is broken and we are broken. But we await the day, with hope, when Christ comes again to restore all things and that is a promise made to us.
In the same sense, when others are unfaithful to us, we can choose to forgive. We can choose to restore. We can choose to love. At the root of faithfulness is love––our love of God and our understanding of His love for us. Because of His love and mercy for us, we should choose to have love and mercy toward others.
Also, we must choose to live for God alone. We must take seriously the covenant we have with God. He is faithful to us; we must be faithful to Him above all else. So yes, we may have to change jobs, change churches, change neighborhoods, but hopefully we have done so with prayer and God’s will in mind. And in obedience to God, we stay faithful to others in being honest, patient, kind, and gentle, among other fruit of the Spirit. We are His ambassadors and we are His children. We must strive to be faithful like He is faithful.
In our faithless world, let us be faithful that we can point others to a God who keeps His promises, all the time. He said He would deliver us and He does; He said He would forgive and restore us, and He does; He said He would always be with us, and He will. Faithfulness is a rare commodity, but in God, it is embodied in His character. God’s mercies are new every morning; great is His faithfulness (Lam 3:23)!
Y Bonesteele is the content and production editor for The Gospel Project for Adults. She earned her MDiv from Talbot School of Theology with an emphasis in Evangelism and Discipleship and has lived on mission around the world.
