Faithfulness

How faithful are you? 

Before you answer that question, pause for a second. I want you think not just about your life of faith, but your life in general - all the ways you are or should be or might be expected to be faithful. 

Do you do what you say you'll do? Do you show up on time to the things you've committed yourself to be at? Do you follow through on your promises? Are you invested in your marriage? Your family? Your kids? Your job? 

Your coffee order? 

We live in a world that seems to be invested in faithfulness. It wants to reward you for the things you do consistently and with good intention and that we have deemed "good" things to do. 

We start this early, with "perfect attendance" awards for schoolchildren. And students who turn in all of their assignments with excellence get even more rewards. At work, maybe you get recognition for being with the company five years, ten years, twenty years. Or you get an acknowledgement for your significant contribution. Your kids tell stories about you forever and for always, and you hope they're good. You get five punches on your loyalty card and your next bagel/coffee/oil change/whatever are free. 

Yes, there's certainly a place in this world for faithfulness. 

But be honest with me for a second - what does it even mean? 

That perfect attendance award from the school corporation feels big at the time, but nobody really cares. In fact, it might even make you look like too much of a workaholic, someone who doesn't know how to have fun or someone who doesn't know how to take care of themselves. 

So you worked for the same company for years of your life, maybe even your whole career. Once you retire, they'll fill your office with someone else before your smell even clears out of there. The work goes on long after you're done with it. They might still talk about you for awhile, but it won't take long before everyone who knew you is gone and you aren't even a memory any more. 

Okay, you bought 5 coffees. Great. Now, you get a sixth. And then what? You have to start all over on your 7th with a new loyalty card. Same gimmick - keeps you coming back. But at the end of the day, you spent $30 and saved only a handful. Who really came out ahead on this game? 

I was thinking about faithfulness the other day. Specifically, I was thinking about it in the context of God. Because I really felt on my heart a step that God wanted me to take, something He wanted me to do. And it got me thinking about all of the things I've done in my life that God has put on my heart...and how not a single one of them has ever been wasted. Not a single one of them has gone unnoticed by the One who asked me to do it. Not a single one of them has failed to produce more than it required of me. 

I can't say that about the jobs I've had or the relationships I've had or the friendships I've formed or the loyalty cards I've punched. In every single other transaction in the world, you'd be lucky to break even...if even that. The world says it's acknowledging our faithfulness and making a place for it, but at the end of the day, we're not the ones coming out ahead on that. 

But with God...not only do we come out ahead, but it's a net gain for everyone. Not only do we reap the rewards, but we've also planted something that's growing. Not only does God recognize our faithfulness, but He honors it. 

I've never done a single thing for this world that has ever come back on me 2-fold, let alone 10. But every time I do what God asks me to do, what He presses on my heart to do, it somehow goes out and fills an empty space and then comes back to me, pressed together, beyond my wildest imagination. 

So I'll ask again - how faithful are you? 

And then I'll ask - what is your faithfulness doing for you?