Faithfulness, The Most Enduring Virtue

Faithfulness is a gem,

Of reliability and constancy,

Those who prove faithful,

Overcome evil’s obstinacy.

Prayers are answered,

For the faithful one,

The one whom believes,

On the power of God’s only Son.

***

Endurance seems to be the greatest test of life, when it is all said and done. We can all venture forward on a course of action for a day or a week or a month, but can we continue, faithfully, and make the course of action part of who we are?

We are certainly counselled to be faithful by the Scriptures, but one thing we may not reckon upon is that the Word of God may actually empower us toward faithfulness; certainly as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

We may think we do not have the resources within us to make change part of who we are, but in the Holy Spirit we have everything we need. But we must be honest every step of the way. We must be faithful, and, because God is faithful, God will see to it that we achieve what we have set out to achieve.

Faithfulness is the ideal remedy for the frustration we experience of not being able to change. As we journey one day at a time, keeping things simple, proving faithful, God is giving us power to say either yes or no to those things we are either trying to establish or trying to debunk.

God will ensure that we have everything we need to make the changes we need to make. Our Lord is a miracle worker, and we only have to experience this once and we are converted as believers.

There is everything to hope for and there is nothing much of true value to lose in going ahead with God into the establishment of the new creation life.

Prayers are answered more readily for the faithful one (see James 1:7-8). If we hope to have our prayers answered, yet we have neither the patience nor the strength to wait, we are probably hoping in vain. James tells us that the person who is easily blown by the winds of the sea is unlikely to get what he or she wants. But the faithful person – the person who is ready and willing to work and to keep working on their labours of love – can expect their prayers to at least be heard by the Lord.

The faithful life is a wise life. With endurance comes success. With diligence comes confidence because outcomes are reliable and good. The responsible life is a wise life.

© 2014 S. J. Wickham.