Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Faith”
Our Bible verse for today: “If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.” James 2:15-17 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Can people have faith in you?”
All this month we’ve been exploring the subject of faith. Mostly I’ve made the case for having faith in God. But as we end our thinking about this theme I want to turn it around and ask you to consider whether or not people can have faith in you. God is faithful and people can certainly depend on Him; but are you faithful and can people depend on you?
Do your family members, co-workers, friends, and church family, all know that in a pinch you will be there for them? When it comes to Christians taking care of Christians (which is exactly what James was writing about in the passage cited above), my personal experience has been that we do a pretty good job of it. When a brother or sister is hurting or in need, Christians typically rally around that person and come through for them – at least in the short-term.
But how about in the long-term? What if a need or a sickness or a difficult problem persists for an extended period of time? Do we hang in there with the person and continue to walk through the difficulty with them? Again, my personal experience has been mostly positive, just a little less so. The longer a person’s situation goes on the more difficult it becomes for others to continue being as compassionate, caring, understanding, and helpful as they were at first.
This is where we encounter the Biblical concept of “longsuffering”. “Longsuffering” is an outdated term which we don’t hear so much anymore. It’s a shame we don’t because it is important. In one sense when a person is longsuffering it means that they can patiently endure suffering and difficulties without giving into despondency. It also means that they are not easily provoked. But in another sense longsuffering means that the person has the ability to empathically walk through suffering and difficulty with someone else, without giving up on them and without growing weary of their situation.
Both the Old and New Testaments identify the attribute of longsuffering as part of God’s character. God is not easily provoked and He does not give up on us as He helps us through our times of trials and difficulties. But in Galatians 5:22-23 Paul identifies it as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit which should also become increasingly evident in our lives. And in Ephesians 4:2 he urges us to be intentional about being longsuffering in our dealings with one another.
There can be no question that God is faithful and that we can always depend on Him. The greater question is “Are we faithful, and can people depend on us?”
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 