Lasting Faithfulness

It's easy for us to make a commitment that requires a new routine and an accompanying life-change. Many of us enter into various diets (or should), pledge to ourselves that we'll exercise more or promise our spouses that we'll 'try harder' to be more available. Just think New Year's Resolutions and you'll have the right mindset for what's coming. When we make these commitments or promises, we have the best intentions and often we come blazing out of the gate at full speed with the false expectation that once we've built up some momentum, we'll just keep on going. But invariably, we fall away, indulge in those Oreo cookies, skip a few nights at the gym, slip back into habits of solitude and selfishness. Ultimately, the diet becomes but a passing fad and the monthly payment to the gym a grim reminder of unrealistic expectations and false hopes.

This pattern is natural and it certainly is not new. It is, in fact, right before us in God's Word this morning as found in;

Hosea 6:4
"What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Juday? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears."

God wants us to love him, to serve him, to seek his righteousness, to obey him with a lasting commitment. Anyone can love God for a season. Anyone can serve God for a weekend. That's not the requirement. That's the love "like the morning mist" or the 'early dew that disappears.' It is pretty for a time but ultimately when heat is applied, it is gone with the wind. Many who 'come out of the gate blazing' are like a meteor in the night-sky; it burns bright, makes a beautiful sight and then fades away.

A life of loving service to God is not like a diet or an exercise plan. It's certainly not a sprint but is instead much more of a marathon. And like a marathon, you must train for it with patience, endurance and commitment; one step at a time.

The countries of Ephraim and Judah had once again fallen away and once again God lamented their failure. His words strike me as a lover who cries over the loss of the beloved. "What can I do, what can I do?"

I don't want to be like Ephraim, I don't want you to be like Judah. I want US to serve God with a lasting faithfulness. I want US to run the marathon together with the clear understanding that we don't have to finish in first place, we just have to finish. I've got a plan for that to run by you; how about when you're feeling faint and want to quit, I'll hold you up and we can limp along together. And when I'm feeling faint and want to quit, you hold me up. That's fellowship and it's a key component to lasting faithfulness.

Shalom,
Carl