“Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:7-9 NLT
“God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:9 CSB
In his build up to “God is faithful” Paul sets out how much God has done for the believers in Corinth. As one commentary puts it “Christ does all the work, and we receive all the benefits”. A very lopsided relationship, I think we must agree, but it is true that God in His Grace has done so much for us. In fact, when we consider God’s faithfulness we come to see more clearly what it means because none of the sins of mankind will keep God from being faithful, through His grace, to any person who has come to Him by faith in Jesus. God put into action His plan for the salvation of mankind. It was many years in the making because it started before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), and with a cross and the crucifixion of His own Son, the plan was finally implemented. God was faithful all the way through and His faithfulness continues today.
As we read through the Bible, we see example after example of how God’s faithfulness has lasted even though there were many seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the way. Abrahan and Sarah had a son in their old age, in response to God’s promise in Genesis 15:4-6, “Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith“. Sadly, Abraham and Sarah tried to make things happen with a Plan B, resulting in Ishmael, but God was still faithful, as we read in Genesis 17:19, “But God replied, “No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant”. The story continued and we read in Genesis 21:1-3, “The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac”. A miracle birth to an old couple and an example of God’s faithfulness.
To the Corinthian church, and referring to the things He was doing for them, Paul wrote, “God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says”. Day after day, God’s faithfulness is present in our daily lives. After the Flood, God said, “Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth“. And we are still living in the light of this promise. In Genesis 8:21 we read, “And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things“. Today we are living assured of this promise, and all those who are afraid of being destroyed in a nuclear holocaust would do well to stand on this promise of God because He is faithful. The next verse in Genesis 8 gives us another promise from God, “As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night“. The climate doomsayers would say otherwise, but God has promised that the world will continue in the form we know, and we, His people of faith, believe that.
In the New Testament we read some more promises about God’s faithfulness. In Genesis 24:14, we read what Jesus said about the events preceding the End of the Age, “And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come”. Good progress is being made at reaching the world with the Gospel, but there is still many people yet to be reached. Another promise of God we know well, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life“. Paul picked up this theme in Romans 10:9, “if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved“. God has promised that we will be saved and we will spend eternity with Him.
But the one thing about God’s promises is that they need faith to believe them. In the same way that God is faithful, so must we be. Paul was convinced about God’s faithfulness and he wrote, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). We believe God’s promises because He is faithful, in spite of our doubts and lack of faith. Paul wrote, “If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is” (2 Timothy 2:13). And that sums it up really. God is not only faithful, He is faithful because that is who He is. Isn’t that tremendous?
Dear Father God, we thank You for Your faithfulness, so gracious and loving. Through Your faithfulness, Your promises will come to pass, as we are eternally grateful. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 