What Does Faithfulness Look Like?
Ever started something you didn’t finish?
Don’t worry. You’re in good company. We’ve all been there, done that.
- Got a hobby you eagerly jumped into that you haven’t touched in a while (i.e., years)? Many a garage sale has been full of scrapbook supplies of women who started the hobby but decided they didn’t want to be scrappy anymore.
- Glance over at your bookshelf. I’ll venture there is at least one dusty book you started but never finished. (Since you didn’t finish the book, I’ll tell you that Horton really did hear a Who.)
- And what about that take-home container in the frig? Y’know, the meal you started but never finished. (Was it that shade of green when you ordered it?)
- And then there’s that Bible reading plan you started on New Year’s Day that petered out by January 10 … or when you hit Leviticus.
What changed? Certainly, some things don’t live up to our expectations. Herding ducks and knitting cat sweaters are not near as much fun as they sound, but the biggest detractor is distraction. We get started down one path, but something shiny catches our eye and we’re distracted. We want to spend more time reading, but we’re distracted by a TV show, a game on our phone, or YouTube videos of duck herding. How many of us have started some legitimate research on the Internet, but one link led to another and, before we know it, we’ve gone down a rabbit hole and are reading about tiny treadmills for fruit flies? (I’ve been down that rabbit hole.)
Bottom line: we lose our focus.
Faithfulness to a task or hobby is one thing; faithfulness to God and our walk with Him is a whole different matter—but we face distractions there too. So many things call for our focus—even good things—and it can be easy to let our faithfulness waiver.
In his book, The Insanity of Sacrifice, Nip Ripken tells the story of Constantine, a Christian imprisoned for his faith. Life was hard. His wife died while he was in prison. The country’s traditional church lent no support; in fact, they cooperated with the government in his arrest.
After his release, Constantine was asked how he maintained strength and remained faithful. “I wrote many songs,” Constantine said. “God gave me words and melodies to strengthen and soothe my soul.” He wrote six hundred songs! Today, believers in his home country sing his songs. His songs minister to others, strengthening them and encouraging a faithful walk with Christ.[1]
We can be faithful too as we look to Christ and rely on His indwelling Holy Spirit. Life can be hard. Maybe we’re not sitting in a dank prison cell like Constantine, but we all face challenges and circumstances that weigh us down. We can be tempted to waiver in our faithfulness, yet part of the fruit that God’s Spirit works into our lives is faithfulness (Gal. 5:22-23). Faithfulness is not automatic. We must look to Him and trust His hand in our lives.
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25).
Such faithfulness may not help you finish off the greenish leftovers in the frig, but it will help you keep focused on what really matters. After all, your walk with Christ is eternal; leftovers aren’t.
[1] Nip Ripken, The Insanity of Sacrifice (B&H, 2019): pp. 105-106.
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This post supports the study “Purpose Lived” in Bible Studies for Life and YOU.
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