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What
is faithfulness?
God
calls to help one another. Each person has their own weaknesses and tendencies
to wander off from God. Here Paul calls us to consider the particular struggle
each believer is facing and calls us to give to deal with it in a
discriminating manner, --to minister to them in their point of need. A look at
the Greek words in this verse will help us draw out the specific counsel needed
to deal with the spiritual battle each one is facing.
By
faithfulness we mean that we seek to align ourselves to God. We
seek to align ourselves to His Word. We seek
to be watchful daily to avoid the
diversions that would draw us
aside from this alignment.
Now what spurs us toward this
alignment? It is the work of the Spirit in the soul. Since we
met the Living Lord Jesus in saving grace, the Spirit is
progressively calling us to more and more alignment with the
Savior in heart
and life. This is what Peter talks about when he says to grow
in the grace and knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter
3:18).
Now we might ask what does the
Spirit use to spur us on? He draws us by
Christ’s beauty (2 Cor.
3:18). He draws us by the
joy of the consummation of
communion with Christ begun now and completed in eternity. He spurs
us by the authority of God’s voice manifested in the Word, so that we can say like the Psalmist, “I delight to do your
will O God” (Psalm 40:8). The Spirit also uses the revelation of God’s delight
in us (Psalm 149:4) and our response of appreciation and delight in God’s love
toward us.
It
is his faithfulness
toward us that calls us to seek to align ourselves to him. He is
faithful to keep picking us up when we fall (Psalm 71:20; 138:7). He is faithful to go before us and prepare the way (Deut.
31:6-7). He is faithful to never leave us or forsake
us. He is faithful and our
faithfulness is our endeavor to stay
close to the Faithful One. We don’t hesitate to say that He is faithful (1
Thess.
5:24) and we are not. But
He is determined to work more and more faithfulness
in us. So we pursue closer alignment with Him daily. May God’s faithfulness,
His faithful Word, and our faithful Shepherd stir up more and more faithfulness
in our lives!
| Editor's note: Gary
Carter is an assistant to Dr. Gills as well as the pastor of Tampa Reformed
Baptist Church. |
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