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CHAPTER 1
DAY 1
Remaining Faithful
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.
2 Timothy 4:7
Faith is the heroic effort of your life, you fling yourself in reckless confidence on God. God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us, now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him.
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
One of my favorite children's books is Horton Hatches the Egg, by Dr. Seuss. An irresponsible mother bird decides to go on vacation, and Horton, an elephant, faithfully sits on her nest, enduring winter storms and ridicule to keep the egg safe. Through it all he continually renews his commitment:
I meant what I said, and I said what I meant ... An elephant's faithful — one hundred per cent!
In an implausible and humorous way, Dr. Seuss used Horton to express the essence of faithfulness: persevering devotedness, steadfastness, and trustworthiness. It's a priceless lesson for everyone since we all desire and highly value these qualities in our lives and relationships.
Horton's surprising reward was seeing the egg he protected produce a baby elephant bird. While such a metamorphosis is reserved for fiction, we cannot miss the parallel with the spiritual reshaping of the human heart. God delights in transforming us into new creatures. One dramatic example is the transformation of Saul from a devout Pharisee and persecutor of the early church to Paul, a passionate missionary for Christ and a New Testament author. After his blinding encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus, Paul was commissioned as God's chosen instrument to minister and suffer for the Lord's sake. And suffer he did — yet all the while, he remained steadfast "for finishing the work assigned ... by the Lord Jesus" (Acts 20:24).
EXPLORING THE WORD
Bible expositor A. C. Hervey wrote of Paul's faithfulness, "Through his long eventful course, in spite of all difficulties, conflicts, dangers, and temptations, he had kept the faith of Jesus Christ committed to him, inviolable, unadulterated, whole, and complete. He had not shrunk from confessing it when death stared him in the face; he had not corrupted it to meet the views of Jews or Gentiles; with courage and resolution and perseverance he had kept it to the end."
In his second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul summarized his ministry experiences. Read 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 and recount some of his struggles. Record the resources he depended upon in order to remain faithful and above reproach.
LEARNING TO LIVE FAITHFULLY
Paul lived a faithful and steadfast life in the face of many trials. But we don't have to look far to discover a contrast to this kind of life. Demas was a companion of Paul during his first Roman imprisonment, but the lure of the world and the reality of Paul's second imprisonment soon overwhelmed him. We read these regrettable words in Paul's letter to Timothy: "Timothy, please come as soon as you can. Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica" (2 Timothy 4:9-10). Twentieth-century pastor and author Herbert Lockyer wrote of Demas,
The prison where [Paul was] languishing seemed wretched alongside the music-haunted, scented, dazzling halls of Rome. Thus Paul had to write one of the most heartbreaking lines in his letters:
"Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world."
Certainly Demas was drawn to Paul's love and faith in Christ. But perhaps, despite his desire to emulate Paul's commitment to Christ, Demas had not yet wholly surrendered to live for the eternal; the temporal was still alluring. Not so with Paul. Because of God's transforming grace, Paul gratefully and purposefully rejected anything that hindered his pursuit of Christ:
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.
Philippians 3:8
Faithfulness cannot be created through missionary trips or mere behavioral changes. Faithfulness begins with ardent love for the Lord and fervent determination to fling ourselves on him in reckless confidence. Paul fought the good fight of faith through hardships and calamities of every kind. Demas, apparently, was willing to abandon such a fight.
Are we seeking to fight the good fight of faith in order to remain faithful? Let us desire to fine-tune our hearts each day and become so motivated by God's grace, love, and faithful- ness that we venture our all in abandoned confidence in him. Only then will we remain steadfast in an uncertain world.
REMAINING FAITHFUL
Paul's faith was tried and proven. In his letter to Timothy, he seemed to write his epitaph by proclaiming his unswerving commitment to the Lord: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful" (2 Timothy 4:7).
In stillness before the Lord, ask God to search your heart while you meditate on these questions:
• How does Paul's life of faithfulness challenge you?
• When you come to the end of your race, what would you like to be able to tell others about your faithfulness?
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Father, I desire to venture my all in abandoned confidence in you. May I have the determination and confidence of Paul to fight the good fight of faith, to run my race faithfully, and to be able to say, "I have remained faithful." Amen.
* * *
God is righteous, and he not only will not forget our work and labour of love, but he will not allow those of his servants who have devoted their powers to his cause with the greatest energy, constancy, and self-sacrifice to miss the most generous and gracious recognition at his loving hand.
W. Clarkson, in The Pulpit Commentary
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Faithful Way"
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Copyright © 2019 Cynthia Heald.
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