Faithful

 Rev 3:14  the faithful and true witness   ( plus a whole heap of other verses about Jesus being faithful to forgive, faithful and just etc)

Someone posted the song Oh Come All You Unfaithful this week - in fact it has come up on my Facebook timeline a few times .  Unsurprisingly as it is a really powerful and relevant song for this time of year. Then yesterday in the car I had some Christmas worship music on and Oh Come All Ye Faithful was blasting out as I was singing along.  And I thought about the two songs and my mind started chewing on the topic of faithfulness.  ( You can find the song here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-QHbpYjuIg&feature=emb_logo)

The thought that came to me was that it is easy to be faithful when you love something or someone.  When we are passionately committed to a cause or a person or a church we barely see their faults, we don't look elsewhere to get our needs met, we are happy and content because of the great relationship we have with whatever it is.  The temptation to be unfaithful comes when the love has worn thin, when the person, organisation or cause has become irritating. It is especially tempting to be unfaithful when we are feeling neglected or overlooked.  But of course no relationship is ever perfect and irritation, neglect and hurt are bound to happen somewhere along the way.  

Jesus was faithful both to His Father and to us.  He kept His promises and stayed focused and true even when He believed His Father had abandoned Him and when He was under so much stress that He sweat drops of blood.  He didnt deviate from His cause when people threatened to stone Him, when they mis-represented His words, when they betrayed Him with a kiss, when they drew lots for His clothes and nailed him naked to a plank.    Remember it was His bride doing these things.  If your spouse treated you like that I think you would probably feel justified in walking away and finding someone who would treat you better.   Jesus stayed the course.  Because He was passionately in love with us.

Its interesting that one of the main causes of church collapse and disaster is infidelity amongst leaders.  We can all think of people who have fallen from great heights because they have had an affair with someone in the congregation or run off with the office administrator or were discovered leading a double life.  Temptation is a major weapon in the arsenal of the enemy and he uses it at every opportunity.   He came at Jesus all guns blazing in the wilderness.  But Jesus was faithful because there was no chink in His armour.  No shadow of a doubt in His mind.  And no wavering in His resolve.  Despite the fact that we were unloveable and downright ugly, Jesus loved us anyway.  It wasn't a feeling - it was a choice.  And it is a choice for us.  Every day we have to choose to be faithful to our spouse, our friends, our employers, our church and our Lord.  Being faithful means we believe the best. We don't gossip or talk people down.  We don't ' shop around' if our needs aren't being met.  We stick through the hard times. We work through disappointments. We trust. Most of all we work to keep the love alive because once it dies it becomes so much harder to stay truly faithful.

We can read that list and feel a bit despondent. Because despite our best efforts we fail at having a noble and pure inner life all the time.  But if you read the list again and this time see it as Jesus's behaviour towards us, it gives us hope.  Regardless of how useless we are He believes the best about us.  He never talks us down - in fact He shows us off like trophies to His Father and the heavenly host.  He doesnt give up on us when we wander off, be it for moments or for decades.  He walks with us through tough times and is our ever present help.  He waits patiently for us when we are upset or angry with Him and because He knows us He trusts us with His word, His purposes and His mission.  But most of all He loves us with a passion which powers His faithfulness towards us every day.

Isnt He amazing?.  Faithful Saviour. Wonderful Lord.