The Faithfulness of God

This morning I am reading out of Romans 3:3-4 NIV:
"What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? [4] Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

As I read this first verse, I thought of the reality that God's real character is unaffected by our actions. As the church, we present God's character imperfectly to those around us, but His real character is unaffected by our mistakes, misunderstandings and wrong beliefs. Thank God that is the case! For how else could He be the rock on which we stand?

I am also mindful of a flow of secular humanistic thinking that God is not needed in our lives, and is somehow even a affected by our unbelief. There are people that boldly proclaim their unbelief, as if in someway they are laughing at the idiocy of believing in a God that is greater than us, and that somehow their defiance of God weakens Him. The belief was that the Greek gods required praise from the people to have strength and power, and the reduction in worship for an particular god would affect their ability to act in the world. This reminds me of the story of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, where she needed people to believe in neverland, so that she could regain her strength.

God is gloriously not like this! He loves our affections, our faith, our praises and our worship, but He doesn't need them to maintain His throne and His power! His Word and His Power are eternal, and unchanging. I am reminded of an early creed statement found in 2 Timothy 2:11-13 NIV:

"Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; [12] if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; [13] if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself."

I am so grateful that His promises are true and I can depend completely on Him, always. His gifts to us are always available, the righteousness bought for us by Jesus sacrifice is always available. The payment or atonement for our sins has already been made and is always available to us! It is our faith that opens our lives to these irrevocable gifts and blessings available in Him. Regardless of our faith, or faithfulness God is faithful.

Lord, help us to turn to You, and return to You if necessary, our Rock, and let us embrace and experience Your faithfulness!