Musing – Do you consider yourself faithful?

Hebraic Musing – Do you consider yourself faithful?

Is a car that starts once out of seven times faithful?

Is a refrigerator that quits for a day now and then faithful?

Is your paperboy faithful if he misses you with the paper every 3 or 4 days?

If you fail to come to work 2 or 3 days each week, would you be faithful to your job?

If your hot water heater greeted you with cold water 1 or 2 mornings a week, would you say it was dependable?

If last Sunday your class or your department did not have a teacher or superintendent, were you being faithful?

How long would your boss or the one who works for you keep his job if he was not faithful?

Do we serve a faithful God?   …Deut.7:9-10 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.   (Is God’s faithfulness conditional? Continuing in v.10)   But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.  So, while His love is unconditional, it seems His faithfulness is conditional. Hmmm….

Do we expect God to be faithful to us?   

Points to ponder

Is it fair to expect God to be faithful to us if we are not faithful to Him?

Should we be encouraging others to faith or faithfulness?

Which is more important –
To be faithful to your church?   Or to be faithful to the Lord?    Or both?

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                             November 20, 2012

To be added to distribution -- Yosef1@cox.net

Special thanks to Rev. Dean Newberry, my neighbor, friend and inspiration, for the initial questions.

Other verses to consider regarding the conditional nature of faithfulness:

Psalm 18:25-27   To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.  You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.

Psalm 25:10  All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.

Proverbs 28:20  A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 28:9  If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.

Matthew 25:23  ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!’

1 Corinthians 4:2  Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

Revelation 2:10   Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.