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Christ does not require us to be rich, good-looking, multi-talented, socially prominent, or formally educated. There is one thing He requires of every one of His servants—Faithfulness. The Faith has been once for all delivered into our hands (Jude 3) and we are all stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Pet. 4:10). The chief responsibility of a steward is to be faithful (1 Cor. 4:2). “Faithfulness” sums up all that Christ asks and expects of His people.
The need for faithfulness in Christians was never greater than at present. Ours is an unbelieving world, drunk on its own cleverness and self-sufficiency. The prevailing world view has produced an evil, compromising and hopeless world. Never has the devil had so many false philosophies and erroneous religions as now. Never have men had so many avenues of temptation and sin thrown at them from Satan. Not since a century ago have so many within the church proved unfaithful in the proclamation and practice of the Truth. From these perspectives, our task is at least as difficult as that which the apostles faced. In such a world as ours the great need is for men and women who have done all that is necessary to stand, and then who will faithfully, unflinchingly, stand (Eph. 6:13-14).
Faithfulness is far more than regular worship and class attendance. Now those who are faithful are never those who forsake the assemblies, but some of the most unfaithful saints never miss an assembly. However, they would think nothing of stabbing another in the back for the sake of profit or popularity, or being stingy, foul-mouthed, dishonest, or wine bibbers. Faithfulness is not merely believing in or standing for right or good things (Billy Graham, Oral Roberts and the Roman pope do this). It is not something properly judged under favorable, agreeable conditions; it is only fully discernible under the heat and pressure of adversity.
The Greek verbal adjective, pistos (“faithful”), connotes the qualities of being steady, reliable, trustworthy, dependable, and loyal. God is Faithful. He keeps His Word (Heb. 10:23), is not capricious (Jam. 1:17), but dependable (Heb. 13:5). Though men are unfaithful, Christ is not (2 Tim. 2:13). He proved Himself faithful by doing all that God sent Him to do (John 17:4; 19:28-30). The Gospel is “faithful” (1 Tim. 1:15; 4:9; 2 Tim. 2:11; Tit. 1:9; 3:8). God’s greatest and best people have always been faithful, including Abraham (Gal. 3:9), Moses (Heb. 3:2), Paul (1 Tim. 1:12) and a host of others. This is God’s great requirement of us all.
[Note: I wrote this article for and it was published in The Edifier, weekly bulletin of Pearl Street Church of Christ, Denton, TX, June 9, 1988, of which I was editor.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
