Always Faithful – Part Two
Galatians 5: 22, 23
There are three areas in which we are wise to be faithful.
First, is to be faithful to ourselves. Wisely the poet Shakespeare said, “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man” (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3, Line 65).
Inconsistency incriminates individuals. One reason there is so little faithfulness to God and people is there is little basic faithfulness to our own higher self.
We are created in the image of God. If we are unfaithful to that image we are less than we were created to be, and are living an unfulfilled life. That inevitably results in a feeling of frustration which deteriorates into bitterness, resentment, and eventually hate.
Who are you anyway? You are the person you have chosen to be. Sure, we are modified by genes and genealogy but each of us chooses to what we will commit. Some choose to become a slave to their thyroid or pituitary glands. They let their emotions or feelings control them. Some choose to be driven by testosterone or adrenalin. At birth you came equipped with a perpetually developing asset that can override all these glandular drives. It is called a mind and a free will. You are the person you choose to be. Choose to be controlled by Jesus and you can be.
The marvel of life is we can change. Will James, father of modern psychology in the western world said, “The greatest discovery of the Twentieth Century is that a man can change his life by changing his mind.” A classic example of this is found in I Corinthians 6: 9 – 11a. Therein individuals with various devious natures are listed and then it is said, “… and were some of you.” Distill that sentence into a word of importance and it is “were.”
Past tense, they were, but they changed. How? The rest of verse 11 explains: “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
This verse informs us that when we turn to Christ in trust, He immediately does three things.
1. He cleanses us of all past sin (You were washed).
2. He sanctifies us. That is, He sets us apart as someone very special to Him whom He desires to use in a distinctive way.
3. He justifies us. Acting as our Judge in that moment and for all eternity He declares us to be innocent. This is the legal basis for the cleansing provided.
It is wise to establish your belief standards and commit yourself to them. That is, this I will or this I won’t do. To those standards always be SEMPER FE.