Faithful
2 Timothy 2:13 says that even if we are faithless, God remains faithful- for he cannot deny himself. As Tozer points out, we as humans can often become unfaithful by reasons such as desire, fear, weakness, loss of interest or exterior pressures. Our faithfulness is a measure of our ability to “put to death” (Romans 8:13; Colossians 3:5) these things within us that are against God, and “put on the new self” (Colossians 3:10) to be faithful to God. Unfortunately, the Bible recalls patriarchs, kings and Israel itself being unfaithful- not remembering the God they were made to worship, engaging in sin and worshiping idols. As confessed Christians, we also have this ability to be unfaithful towards God- we can turn our hearts towards idols even after Christ has entered our lives. God, however, is always faithful. God’s faithfulness is part of who He is, and He cannot deny this. This is seen in 1 Kings 15, when the ruler of Judah, Abijam, “walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to God…” Abijam was faithless, but God was faithful in his prior promise to uphold Judah: “for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him [Abijam] a lamp in Jerusalem…” Abijam and the nation of Judah were faithless, but God remained faithful nonetheless.
The faithfulness of God continues to the Cross: In 1 John 1:9 we see that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and will cleanse us from unrighteousness. This remains true despite our actions- Christ death was atonement for our unrighteousness, and if we confess our sins, we are cleansed. Even if we are unrighteous, and continue to sin after this, God will uphold His promise. If God did not, and considered us unclean, He would be denying himself. Besides, our faithlessness cannot cause God to be unfaithful, just as our faithfulness is not the cause of God’s grace to us (Galatians 2:21).
Good
God’s goodness is a difficult thing to keep in mind when the devil has convinced you that your own sin makes God your enemy. To recognize that God is good, however, is essential. If God were other than good, the world would be turned upside-down, as Tozer writes: “…heaven can be hell and hell, heaven.” The interaction between God and man from Adam and Eve until now would have played out differently: there would be no moral ground, and God would not have compassion on man. Understanding God’s goodness means understanding that God cares for us. God will do anything for us, including giving his own Son- not because he was required to, but because he loves us (John 3:16). It would be in Satan’s interest if our perspective of God was utter fear and anticipation of what evil God would put in our path. This would cause us to be afraid of God, rather than seek the relationship with Him that he desires. Acknowledging God’s goodness allows us to approach God with boldness, and through Christ “…have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him” (Ephesians 3:12). Ignoring God’s goodness, then, would cause use to approach God timidly, and not partake in Him in any way.
1. Good use of the Old Testament example. This composition is really worthy of reading. Properly comprehensive in scope.
ReplyDelete2. This is likewise good. The faithfulness of God as reflected in the cross and blood of Christ is truly the underlying idea here.
3. Nice, balanced thoughts here, but I would have preferred you directly engage the idea of goodness as specified in a verse. John 3:16 was fine, and of course, goodness is implied there, but a more direct route might have been more effective.