My greatest desire in life is to one day stand before Jesus and hear Him say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” Faithfulness is crucial. Being loyal, constant, and steadfast in our daily walk with God is required of the devoted disciple of Christ. I’ve always been deeply challenged by Scriptures like these:
- I Corinthians 4:2 — “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust to prove faithful.”
- Revelation 2:10 — “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.”
- Matthew 25:21 — “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share you master’s happiness!’”
But what does it mean to be faithful? Ephesians 4:1-16 gives us 4 ways we must live if we are to be faithful followers of Christ.
- LIVE WORTHY [v. 1]
I must purpose to live up to God’s ideal for my life. I must seek to keep my standards high and not lower them. There is a spiritual gravitation pull in life, it seems. Our carnal nature wants to pull us down and away from the life and things of God. We must fight this in the power of the Holy Spirit and overcome. We must live for Jesus each day, and live up to His ideal for our lives. - LOVE FULLY [v. 2-6]
I must purpose to love God and others with all of my heart. It is easy to love the lovable. But how about loving others who are not easy to love? Jesus wants us to love others fully. He wants to flow His love through us toward others. He desires that we allow His love, that flows in us, to flow out of us toward others. We mustn’t dam up His love. We must be a channel of His love where love flows freely. - SERVE PASSIONATELY [v. 7-13]
I must live to serve others like Jesus did. Jesus came to serve others. He lived to serve others. And He has called us to serve others. Jesus said, “If you want to be great in God’s Kingdom, be a servant of all.” What is your serve strategy? In others words, what is your serve plan? How do you plan to serve other people? Sometimes you just find a need and meet it; other times you plan to serve and engage in constant serving. Jesus has called us to be His hands and His heart extended. Serve others willingly in Jesus’ Name. - ACT MATURELY [v. 14-26]
I must behave in such a way as to bring glory to Christ by my words and actions. Psalm 19:14 says, “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer.” We need to pray that the words we speak honor others and bring glory to Christ. We need to pray that our thoughts and attitudes and actions honor others and bring glory to Christ.
Let us all pray each day, “Dear Lord, find me faithful. May I honor You in all I say and do.”