Sowing the Seeds of Faithfulness

      God-glorifying faithfulness (Galatians 5:22) is a tall order.  The easy way out is too easy to take when no one is looking.  It is so easy over commit and then to lose track of our commitments.

      However, we do not have to be overwhelmed.  Instead, we must simply sow the seeds that will bear faithfulness.

      Since trustworthiness is the behavior we have because we believe, it stands to reason that we can increase our faithfulness by increasing our faith.  As Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

      If we are going to be faithful, we must sow the seed of Bible study.  We cannot be faithful in our commitment to God if we do not know what we have actually committed ourselves to.

      However, as we noted earlier, it is too easy to take the easy way out when no one is looking.  We sometimes lose sight of the fact that God is looking all the time (Psalm 139:7-12).  Therefore, we need to sow the seed of accountability.

      That is, we need to follow the advice of Ecclesiastes 4:9-12.  Two are better than one.  We ought to find someone who will help hold us accountable to what we learn from God’s word.

      We will bear the fruit of faithfulness regarding our commitments to others by sowing the seed of time management.

      God said we must redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16).  Time is not an unlimited resource.  We only get so much of it and God tells us we must count each minute as precious.  We must virtually purchase each minute.

      This implies some things about our commitments and faithfulness to others.  First, we must learn to say, “No.”  None of us wake up wondering how we can be untrustworthy today.  Nobody spends time thinking of ways to let others down.  We become untrustworthy when we have committed the same time in too many ways.  We are not God.  We cannot do everything.  Better to do a few things faithfully, than commit to many things only to leave most of them undone or only half done.

      Secondly, we must plan our commitments.  We must not believe that time for our commitments will just come out of thin air.  If a commitment is going to take time, that time has to come from somewhere.  We need to take stock of our commitments and plan time to get them done.

      Finally, we must sow the seed of putting others first (Philippians 2:3-4).  We often fail in our commitments to others because they conflict with our desires.  When we put others first, we will fulfill our commitments to them faithfully.

      How many of these seeds will we sow this week?

Edwin L. Crozier