If we think about the faithfulness of God, do we see ourselves faithful to Him, to our spouse, to our children and even faithful to our grandchildren? Are we faithful in our job where a committed heart is seen to do the best job without wavering?
Hosea 7:1-4
NKJV "When I would have healed
Israel,
Then the
iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,
And the
wickedness of Samaria.
For they
have committed fraud; A thief comes in;
A band of
robbers takes spoil outside.
2 They do not consider in their hearts
That I
remember all their wickedness; Now their own deeds have surrounded them;
They are
before My face. 3 They make a king glad with their wickedness,
And princes
with their lies. 4 " They are all adulterers.
Like an
oven heated by a baker—He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, Until
it is leavened.
Yikes! In
this, the category of all sinners is the word adulterers! It was a “spirit of
harlotry” that had made a way in and through the Israelite culture. Do we see
this is true today as well?
I remember
in the 1980’s of men appearing before cameras to say they were living a gay lifestyle!
Their faces had dark markings, these brown splotches and much bruising from a
dreadful disease. These once strong men were now those who had a physique of
skin and bone where the disease of AIDS had set up its home. And it was AIDS
that was plastered on the cover of magazines, newspapers and on people’s lips!
I remember us (our family) talking about! The answer to us seemed simple: STOP
IT! But even instructed what that will bring: like diseases like syphilis,
herpes, and AIDS, there were also the other things that were seen: like broken
homes, broken marriages, rebellious children and then children raised by only
one parent. Yet, today we have children coming over the border who do not know
their parents or are they likely choosing not to say who their parent is just
to escape?
From Hosea
7:3 we see the “ they make the king glad with their wickedness” and
in this word, the indication is toward leaders as in business but also
education. It can also include a government . Evil is pointed to by the finger
of God. It is expressed in those with evil in mind to profit from a never
ending cesspool of faithlessness. Yes, they make money and they do it to gain
more power! This can be seen of those choosing to pad their own pockets that
incites death for a community and possibly the world. Have we not seen that in
the age of corona-virus? So the list can include” doctors, the pharmaceutical houses,
booksellers, movie makers and some lawyers of late!
WE are told
that faithlessness is rising in 2
Timothy 3:1-5 NKJV But know this,
that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers
of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving,
slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying
its power. And from such people turn away!
Paul, the
apostle, declares when he wrote: “evil men and impostors will grow worse and
worse, deceiving and being deceived” found in 2 Timothy 3:13!
People are
human kind and they are The Unreliable Human: Psalm 146:3 NKJV
3 Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there
is no help.
Jeremiah
17:5 puts it even more bluntly, "Thus says the LORD: 'Cursed is the man
who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the
LORD.'"
Human
beings, compared to God, are fundamentally untrustworthy. If they do know God,
they can depart from Him. While people must be trusted from time to time in
everyday life. But there are those times that to lean on them is much like
leaning on the broken crutch of human aid. Ultimately, we are bound to be
disappointed because people—even the most well-intentioned—will fail us. Just
ask anyone! How about asking the folks in Louisiana who are still without power
and they have had two more hurricanes to hit them.
People
today are no different from when Moses wrote the Pentateuch or Paul his
epistles, but the occasion to sin, or the lust to do so has increased with a
great frequency and intensity. Thus we likely look like what Noah saw when he
went into the Ark for safety as the Flood was about to appear. We have seen an
environment changed to commit more sin from the 1980’s of the 20 century to
reach a pinnacle of great magnitude where we see human nature is taking
advantage of it at every turn and in every arena whether it is in the medical
field or on the field of sports! You and I have been born into and yes indeed
have unwittingly contributed to creating it!
How many of
those R-rated movies did we keep our focus on? How many times did we change
from being truthful to lying at some degree about something or against another?
And you and I become the guilty of
creating such a place as that environment of lustful attitudes that sin daily
and bring down the innocent! Yes that place and position is a place where the
faithful is not seen nor heard. So sad to see for what is God purposed is for
our good and no evil in our final outcome!
We can see
living a life of faithfulness is frowned upon. When living in a world of which self-centeredness
is being promoted to its greatest extent in human history, and how many of us
still shake our heads at this downward spiral of man? Certainly commercials make
the most of those appealing advertisements that gratify us: Why wait, why deny
ourselves, do it, you deserve it, why not go along with everyone else? THAT word
is broadcast….”go ahead”….you deserve it! Then this one: YOU would look
great in this___________! Fill in the
blank, for you know better than I what you would look great in: a new house,
that new Lexus or that cruise you have mooned over for years!
I am amazed
at what has come to be the Panavision of adultery displayed for people of all ages
to see and where there is no gasp or a quickness to stop the pornographic
pictures and slides of people on billboards and on T.V. commercials. There are
people in tubs without clothes for young 4 and 5 year old to view with no
thought of the depravity of it. And of course, satan, the author of depravity
is behind this: with that emotion stirring music, that partially clad couple
which is supposed to be somehow attractive and acceptable to those who have no
spouse, or those looking for a spouse where the oppressed want because they “deserve
that better thing” and are never
thinking of the prospect that they are being duped into the world’s thought
system!
People do not want war in other countries, but
they do not consider the War, the Murder, the Lying, the Stealing, the Coveting,
and the Idolatry acts that almost everyone in the world would claim as being
wrong yet, they appear constantly within schools, on the streets and within
business transactions.
IF you and
I would take a look at what was on the scene some 75 years ago, we see that “the
trend” was already the beginning in that downward spiral because many
unwittingly committed in their heart to promote that kind of behavior because
they could. And they justified doing it by speaking that everybody else was
doing it, too! Being faithless is playing a role in destruction. And if we play
that role…that destruction is on us!
Traitors
today appear as those who walk away from a marital contract. Another traitor is that parent who failed to protect young child when
abuse was seen. Even manufacturers will
lie about the quality of their products they sell. They tell you it is of
quality but falls apart upon use of the product once you use it at home. Many
decades ago, I remember this commercial for Zenith. They said “quality goes in
before the name goes on”. And what is in
a “name” today?
Is the “father
of irresponsibility” leading us or are we resisting by what the Lord God gave
us from His word? For in today’s culture irresponsibility is leading in
relationships with a disregard to the things of God. God-centeredness in our
lives is the answer to faithlessness and irresponsibility. But God-centeredness
is not cheap, and few are willing to pay the price: their lives!
In the
context of relationship with God we find this in Psalm 50:6 Let the heavens
declare His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. The Old Testament gave a
defining term when it is of God and of man. We will know HIM to be JUDGE!
And we see
of what occurred in the Garden of Eden. What was chosen as a distinct disregard
of what God commanded, the relationship with God was terribly marred as was the
relationship between Adam and his wife! Moses was given the Ten
Commandments and related laws that defined Israel's relationship with God. In
keeping those laws given, they were to act righteously to maintain a relationship
that had been begun with a covenant between God and His people.
To obey those laws
was to act righteously, because such obedience maintained the covenant
relationship between God and His people. It is man who will never maintain any
kind of righteousness of his own planning. But a table was set. It was the
Cross, where a public display demonstrated the righteousness of God and those
who believe in Jesus will have that righteousness imputed to them. It is God
Who transferred the righteousness of Christ to those who trust in Him according
to Galatians 3:5-6 NKJV Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works
miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of
faith?---just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. ( Also seen in Romans
4:3-22; Philippians 3:9) We do not become righteous because of our inherent
goodness; God sees us as righteous because of our identification by faith with
His Son.
A Faithful
Person is seen in Matthew 24! Matthew
24:45-51 NKJV 45 "Who then is a faithful and wise
servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in
due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will
find so doing. 47 Assuredly, I say to
you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But if that evil servant
says in his heart, "My master is delaying his coming," 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to
eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a
day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51
and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The parable
of the faithful and evil servants certainly teaches us to be faithful and wise
in carrying out responsibilities and relationships with our fellow servants, yes,
our brothers in the body of Christ. For
you and I should desire to be the prudent, the sensible showing that sound
judgment in understanding people in situations and displaying discernment when
dealing with them. That also means dealing with them daily not just on say
Saturday or on Sunday!
Jesus gives
us the “wise” as those who exercise restraint,
using sound and practical wisdom! We should be those who act in a godly manner
where God’s love is seen. As the faithful, we are about loving our neighbor as
we love ourselves. (Matthew 22:39).
And since
we have people around us daily, we should allow Christ to lead us in that way
that unites and inspires others to be faithful as well. And you and I can do
this: by giving them the truth, a good example, and encouragement. In this way,
we become wise and faithful stewards of the trust God has given us.
In “where
we stand” , we are hopefully standing in the position that is of a righteous person who believes in
the Lord’s return so that our belief will be the set point to expect Him and
that our conduct, that behavior would display that expectancy to be alert, the
watchful and remain in the righteous mode where God expects us to remain.
May we not
be the arrogant, violent, self-indulgent, gluttonous, and hypocritical servant,
the one who believes he has plenty of time to square his relationship with God,
as his conduct has become evil. For in this day and within this hour we have
those who would dictate your life to you that is of the world: the false
apostles, politicians, the false prophets, the media, and the false teachers,
educators. For that of God is of truth to live and not die and declare God. It
is the faithful in God who appear as the wise, the ready….the faithful who take
a stand for God!
Psalm 62:5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone ; my hope comes from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 7 he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. 11 One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, 12 and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.
Amen!
