By: Annagail Lynes
What comes to mind when I say the word faithful? Do you see a dog bringing his master slippers? Maybe you think of a husband that is true to his wife? Perhaps you picture an old friend.
Faithful is being true to a person to whom one is bound by a promise, a pledge, honor or love.
Now think about this for a moment: how faithful are you?
Are you faithful to your friends? To your family? Do you keep your promises and vows to them? Or do you make promises with no intention of keeping them?
Remember Hannah in the Bible? She couldn’t get pregnant. And her husband’s other wife could. In essence, he had one wife whom he loved, Hannah, and one purely to have children by. But the other wife mocked Hannah because that wife had children and she didn’t.
So she went up to the temple and cried before God for a son. She told God that if He would give her a son that she would give her son to Eli, the priest, to be raised in the priesthood. God gave her a son. And when he was old enough, Hannah brought him back to the temple to be raised by Eli. She was faithful to fulfill the vow she made to God. To reward that faithfulness, God gave her more children.
Do you think that God would have given her a son if He knew that Hannah wouldn’t be faithful? I doubt it.
What about Jesus? Jesus went about doing good. He performed miracles almost everywhere He went, despite the murmuring and accusations of the religious groups. He was at a wedding where they ran out of wine. His mother asked Him to perform a miracle. He didn’t want to because His time had not yet come, but He loved Mary so much that He granted her request.
When He told the centurion that the man’s child was not dead but sleeping. He was faithful to raise the little girl from the dead.
After He learned that Lazarus was sick, He sent word to Mary and Martha that He was coming to see Lazarus. By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus was already dead. That didn’t stop Jesus, though. He just raised Lazarus from the dead.
He said He was going to feed the 5000. However all He had was five loaves and two fish. Again that didn’t stop Him. He just performed a miracle.
He wasn’t faithful because He performed miracles. He was faithful because He did what He said He was going to do. He healed people, rose people from the dead and taught His disciples how to be fishers of men.
He was not only faithful to man but to the mission on which God sent Him on. If Jesus had not been faithful to His mission, He would never have went to the cross. He would have never been crucified or resurrected, and we wouldn’t be saved from the pit of Hell.
So what do we have to do to be faithful?
Simply by keeping the vows, commitments and promises that we make. In earlier times, a man was on as good as his word? Are you as good as yours? If not, I challenge you to make it your goal to make your word as good as gold.
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