"The Faithfulness of Faithfulness" Part 4 THURSDAY

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23

"The Faithfulness of Faithfulness"

Part 4

     When considering faithfulness, or any Biblical issue, we begin with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Having begun, we continue with Him as the sublime subject.  And of the end, well, there will never be a culmination of Christ, or of our discovery of His glorious character, nature, and way.  "This is life eternal, that we might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

   "I do always those things which please Him" declared our Lord regarding His Father, and His Father's will.  Thus, to know and understand faithfulness to God, we "look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).  Only in the light of His illumination can we begin to grow in our own trustworthiness to God and to people.  "In Thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9).  His faithfulness serves as the Fount of our own devotion as the doctrine and personal knowledge of Christ first fills our hearts with enraptured wonder, and then motivates and empowers us to "walk, even as He walked" (I John 2:6).  Indeed, whenever our interest and motivation for pleasing our Father seems to wane, a fresh gaze upon the Son renews and invigorates - "Consider Him… lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Hebrews 12:3).

    God made us for this, to know and rejoice in His Son, and to serve as His spiritual dwellingplace.  "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father" (Galatians 4:6).  Thus, the fulfillment of our very being and existence requires Christ.  We "live through Him" (I John 4:9).  The Lord Jesus must faithfully execute His office if we are to faithfully fulfill God's reason for creating us.  This our Savior accomplishes perfectly and unceasingly - "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).  We are far from perfect and unceasing in our response, of course, but the growing knowledge of a faithful Christ elicits growing trust and devotion of faithful Christians.  Our spiritual enemies seek always to distract us from this Christ-centered source and sustenance of our walk with God, meaning that we must seek always to devote ourselves to the Apostle Peter's admonition: "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18).

    Throughout a lifetime of continual temptation and challenge, the Son of God walked in perfect faithfulness to His Father through the power of the Holy Spirit.  "Tempted in all points like as we are," the Lord Jesus over and over and over triumphed in faithfulness (Hebrews 4:15).  He now dwells in us through the Holy Spirit to accomplish the same, providing His faithfulness as the source of our faithfulness.  God provides no other means of enabling, nor is any other means necessary.  We therefore do well to open our Bibles in the quest to know the faithful Lord Jesus.  We begin our days in confidence of His abiding presence and working on our behalf.  We experience the blessed, the difficult, and the mundane in the increasing awareness that Christ serves as the issue of all.  His faithfulness, our faithfulness - the faithfulness of Faithfulness - the bond and relationship cannot be severed, nor can it be overemphasized in our hearts and minds.  

"I can do all things through Christ which strengthenth me."

(Philippians 4:13)

Weekly Memory Verse

     And the heavens shall praise Thy wonders, o Lord, Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

(Psalm 89:5)