Thursday, August 8, 2024

Scripture:

2 Timothy 2: 8-13, Lamentations 3: 19-27

Questions to Consider:

How have you experienced God’s faithfulness in times when you were unfaithful?
What promises of God can you hold on to during difficult times?

Reflection:

After taking a day to reflect on the words from Stephen we are going to consider God’s faithfulness today. The Apostle Paul was quite possibly one of the most faithful men to live after the ascension of Christ into heaven. He spent years of his life in prison or avoiding prison on account of his faithfulness so if anyone had justification to talk about their own faithfulness to the gospel it was certainly him.

Instead though, when he is commissioning Timothy for the work of the ministry he reminds him,

13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— 2 Timothy 2: 13

What a wonderful word of encouragement for us. It could be worded, “though we are faithless, he remains faithful.” What a burdensome situation we would be in if God’s faithfulness to us was conditioned upon our faithfulness to him. How much grace and mercy would we receive if God dished it out in equal measure to what we showed him?

Quarks are among the smallest particles we can conceivable fathom. They are smaller than even the nucleus of an atom. Something so small that we are somewhat guessing at their existence because the most sophisticated instrumentation we have cannot even see or measure these particles. As small as such a particle is to imagine, how much infinitely smaller would the grace be that we receive from a holy God if he conditioned it upon some measure of our faithfulness?

How can one possibly even compare human faithfulness to a perfect and holy God? These are as far apart as a quark to the whole of the universe. Incomparably separate. As we saw through Jacob, and in Joseph, and in Israel, and many other characters, God conditions his faithfulness and his grace not on us but upon himself.

Have you failed to be faithful to a holy God? Have you done once again the thing you wanted to not do and failed to do the thing you wanted to do? Do you feel as insignificant as a quark to the universe? Be encouraged today,

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; Lamentations 3: 22

He is faithful because he loves you and the father sent Christ into the world to redeem even the quarks.

Prayer:

Gracious Lord, thank you for your faithfulness despite my faithlessness. Please keep me, for without your grace I am lost. Thank you for saving and keeping me. In the name of Jesus, Amen.