God’s Faithfulness.

In the early years of my walk with God, I didn’t realize the great blessing I had in God’s faithfulness. I knew of my sinfulness, and of His forgiveness. But it was several years before I understood what a blessing His faithfulness was in my life.

You see, I hate half-baked goals. I am the queen of half-baked goals! I start things and don’t finish – all the time! It is the second most irritating personality trait I find in myself.* So when I  decided to follow Jesus, I set my compass on Heaven, my feet on the Word of God, and anchored my soul in the love of Christ. I said:  “I will do this right or not at all. I am not going to be a ‘church on Sunday, cuss on Monday’ kind of Christian. I am all in!”

Now, obviously, I have fallen short of the grace of God too often. I have sinned and repented more than I would like to remember. It grieves my heart that I have helped hammer those nails into the hands of my Savior. But Praise God! There is forgiveness for my sin and a new beginning in Christ!

God my Father shows His faithfulness to me by showing me my sinful habits and other unChristlike actions and attitudes. Conviction from the Holy Spirit is such a great blessing. It allows me to see where I need to repent and change. Then I can become more like Christ. It seems unpleasant to my flesh – my ‘self’, but it makes my spirit rejoice, because I know that God cares about me.

Last week one of my kids brought me one of those silica packets that are found in packages to keep things dry and fresh. (It had fallen out of my daughter’s new boot box) She held it out to me, and asked what it was. I told her to take it straight to the trash – it s poisonous and could make her or her little sister very sick! I didn’t let her play with it just because she thought it was a cool item. I wasn’t afraid of hurting her feelings, I was afraid of ruining her health! Any loving parent would protect their child from harm, by pointing out something harmful the child wants to do.

In the same way, we can be thankful that our Father shows us things we are doing that are harmful for us, spiritually. He is completely faithful to show us areas where we are sinning, things we need to change. If He didn’t love us, He would say: “fine, you want to be selfish and unkind, you don’t care about your words, ok, go ahead and do what you want.” But He doesn’t let us harm ourselves – He shows us when we are doing something that will kill us spiritually. If we are born again and walking with Him, we are part of the family of God.  He is our Father. He wants the best for us – His children. He wants us to gain victory over sin and live in joyful peace. So He shows us over and over when we need to change. That is His kindness.

Let’s thank Him for His faithfulness to us each day. Let’s walk in the light and be sensitive to His voice guiding us. If He shows us an area where we are wrong, let’s repent and confess immediately, and turn to Him. If we follow one step at a time, we can gain victory over sin, and His Spirit will not leave us.

*My number one most frustrating personality trait is the fact that I naturally talk before I think. While this is not wrong in itself, I have sinned often with my tongue because of it. Personality is no excuse for sin, and it is an area the Lord has been teaching me control over.