The Faithfulness of God
July 1, 2023 2023-07-01 8:02The Faithfulness of God
Revlee The faithfulness of God.
2 Thessalonians 3:3
3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. (NIV)
None of us could honestly say that we have not let God down. We have broken our promises so often and so easily. But the agape love of God works to forgive, forget, and extend another opportunity even if we have not kept our word to Him a thousand times. This is the faithfulness of God to keep His promises. He is faithful when we are faithless.
When we repent, His mercy is renewed in us. His mercy reminds us He knew our sin before we committed it. Before we acted it out, He had already hurled it deep into the Sea of Forgetfulness.
I think it is important to say that the Lord is not fooled by our lip service. Our bogus confessions will not be honored by the Lord. We must search our hearts to ensure we don’t fool ourselves into thinking we are sincere when we are not. Yet, even before we repent, He is patient giving us time to express our remorse and be encouraged by the grace He has already extended. We are forgiven. The prefix for- means to do ahead of time. Before we sin, He has already forgiven us. We only need to take hold of that forgiveness as His gift to us through repentance.
The faithfulness of God alleviates our fear that past sin, past mistakes, or anything else can destroy the plan that God has for us. Our sins and mistakes have consequences, but God, in His omnipotence, easily overcomes our worst moments. Any fear that God will hold it against us forever comes up from the pits of Hell. When Christ died, it was for the forgiveness of all sin.
Our fear that God will not be faithful to His own character comes from a lack of self-forgiveness. Punishing ourselves in our own minds for things God has forgiven us of is a form of blasphemy. We set ourselves on the throne of God as if we have the authority to exact punishment upon sin. We don’t. There is only one judge. How many would voluntarily put themselves in prison after the Judge has released us with time served? He is the judge and His punishment for your sin was exacted upon Christ 2000 years ago. For God to punish you after allowing Christ to be punished on your behalf would be an injustice on His part.
Because He loves you, He will discipline you by allowing you to face consequences, but always within the safety of His faithfulness to keep His promises.
