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Trust and faithfulness - Rev 2:10
Trust and faithfulness - Rev 2:10
“Be though faithful unto death and you shall receive the crown of life”. We walk by faith. Faith can be thought of in two aspects: 1) it is the believing of statements and facts as being true; and 2) it is TRUST in such statements, principles, persons. Not all truth claims are true! Hence, the concept of believing facts and statements becomes a base for what we will put our trust in.
Trust: we must make sure WHAT and WHO we trust are trustworthy. We can describe trustworthy as that which is ‘faithful’, it proves to be what it purports to be.
God is faithful.
Such is constantly affirmed in the scriptures: 1Cor. 1:9; Deut. 7:9; Isa. 49:7; 1Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 1:18; 1 Thess. 5:24; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1John 1:8-9). Yet there are a few things that one must take into consideration concerning God’s faithfulness:
· God’s promises may extend over many years.
· God’s promises may extend over many generations.
· God means what He says, Says what He means, and DOES what He said He would do.
· Many times, people have misunderstood the promise and thus charge God with unfaithfulness.
· Many times, people have ASSUMED a promise and again, not receiving this, they charge God with unfaithfulness.
Jesus is faithful.
As God manifest in the flesh, He is by character faithful. In the incarnation, he was faithful to the Father in everything. He was without sin (Heb. 4:15). Thus, we not only believe ‘that’ Jesus did and said certain things, we TRUST JESUS. He is our savior, He is our mediator, He is our high priest. Through HIM we have access into the grace wherein we stand.
God’s word is faithful.
Since it comes from God who is trustworthy, IT is trustworthy. Hence the oft repeated statement: “It is a trustworthy statement…” (1Tim. 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2Tim. 2:11-13; Titus 3:8).
Having such support system to our own faith, we are willing to deal with any and all attending problems. Being a Christian solves some problems (i.e., problems with sin and our relationship with God), but it also produces other problems (conflict with the world and a target for Satan’s war).
The challenge is basically one of trust. Do we trust God, Jesus, the Word? Can we rely upon such? Through all the problems that we must face as followers of Jesus, we must be ‘faithful unto death’. There will be (probably already have been) things in our lives that will shake our faith, will make us question what we have believed. How do we deal with such things? What can we do to maintain our faith?
Strengthening our faith
· Memorize the great promises of God and how they have been fulfilled in the past. Such will provide a way of understanding God’s current promises to us.
· Read, memorize, and meditate upon how God has demonstrated his love for us in Jesus. If God SO loved us when we were enemies, how much more now that we are born again into being His children!
· Consider the end of those people who abandoned their faith in God. How did that turn out? Did is solve their problems? What is the eternal end of such action?
Thus, we believe IN God (Titus 3:8), not just that He exists though that is true (Heb. 11:6), we TRUST Him, we have entrusted ourselves unto Him (1Pet. 4:19). We believe IN Jesus (Gal. 2:16) and can say as did Paul: “I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (2Tim. 1:12). Who have you put your trust into?
Hugh DeLong
