Being Faithful
by Mike Bonner
What does it mean to be faithful? Like anything else in education, we must define our terms, lest we find ourselves becoming a law unto ourselves (Romans 2:14). Faithful in the Hebrew language means, “to be confirmed, to be established, to be reliable and trusty”. In the Greek language it means, “to execute a command or the discharge of official duties, to trust in God’s promises”. These definitions are extremely powerful and worthy of our consideration.
Before anyone can be faithful, God has to be considered. God is faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9). He is trustworthy and has proven it through given and fulfilled promises (1 Thessalonians 5:24). God has made promises to Noah, Moses, Israel, Jesus and many more during the corridors of time. Also, He has fulfilled those promises. We can trust our faithful Creator, for He has demonstrated His trustworthiness to all through the giving of His Son, Jesus Christ.
The Bible is filled with example after example of those who were faithful to God and His promises. These examples were left for our learning (Old Testament) and obedience (New Testament). Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord because he was faithful to God and His commands (Genesis 6:8ff). The Lord told him to build an ark for the saving of his house, for He was going to flood the earth at His time (Genesis 6-9). Noah’s faithfulness resulted in his and his family being saved. We should see the connection immediately with the commands of God, the obedience of man and the saving of the man who kept the commands of God.
Even under the Mosaic system, we see a man who was faithful in all of God’s house. He was the meekest man on the earth and the Lord said, “he is faithful in all My house” (Numbers 12:7). The Hebrew’s writer would capitalize on his faithfulness and use him as an example for the Hebrew Christians to look at for confidence in their Christian life (Hebrews 3:2-5). Anyone who has read of the life of Moses knows he had faults and struggled to deal with the people of God at times because of their stubbornness. For this reason, he is a great example to follow and pattern our lives after.
Being faithful to God should look like the life of Moses, friends. God commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh, to free His people from bondage. This task would be large and, for many, very intimidating to say the least. Yet, Moses, with the help of God, for God was with him, confronted Pharaoh for his God and the people came out of bondage (Exodus 7:1-14:30). This should encourage us to face the giants of the land and stand up for what is right, true and honorable to the God of heaven. We must stand up in our own way to the powers-that-be concerning the immorality of the land, brethren. Too many in the Lord are sitting back and waiting for others to do what they can do themselves. We must do better where we can do better.
Being faithful is possible for other reasons as well. Because God is faithful to release us from sin through the blood of His Son, we should trust that completely and proceed forward with confidence in life (1 John 1:7-9). Every now and then we sin against God, against one another and we need to make those things right (Matthew 18:15-20; Psalm 51:3-4). Just knowing we can be released from sin, transgressions, and be right with the Lord should aid in our faithfulness to Christ, our Master. Why should we hold on to sin and guilt if the Lord has given us the means to take care of it and be absolved from it?
In a previous paragraph we spoke of the faithfulness of God, and we want to add to those thoughts: God is faithful, in that He will not allow you to be tempted above what you can handle, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). The real question is this: will we take the way of escape through the guidance of the word of God to remain in fellowship with the Father? There are always two options when it comes to right and wrong, good and evil, holiness and unholiness. Will we discipline ourselves enough to take the way and live? God is faithful, are we?
Being faithful should be seen in our marriages, our business dealings, our personal lives, our friendships and the list could go on. We must be faithful in those things that belong to someone else. For example, we should be faithful stewards of the gospel message and ensure its deliverance to all we come in contact with (1 Corinthians 4:2). God has put this treasure in earthen vessels, let us do our part in making sure people have the opportunity to hear it and be faithful to God (2 Corinthians 4:7). In conclusion, are we being faithful to the church of Christ in New Boston? Can we be counted in the number for reliability and consistency? When we have events to further the name of Christ in our community, can we be counted in the number? Being faithful is not just seen in attendance, but it is a great place to begin. Let’s be faithful, trustworthy, established and one who carries out the commands of God.