Staying faithful - Focused on Others

In my last post I discussed the Juggling Act and I find myself thinking about it once again, but from a different perspective: The matter of staying faithful.

At a prayer meeting last night the issue of remaining faithful was brought up. It was noted how important it is and how some are able to be so much more faithful than others. How do they do this?

Well, perhaps first of all it is better to explain what it means to be faithful. The word, I think we all know. But the terms in which I am speaking is the matter of being faithful to others beyond yourself: God, family, friends...

God tells us in His Word:

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might - Deut 6:5

You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD - Lev 19:18

These are the two great commandments, which Jesus echoed in Matthew. What do they tell us? They tell us that the sum of the law is to have a heart, mind and soul focused on others, God first, others next, self last.

Why is this the case, especially when the world tells us to put ourselves first, to go get with gusto, to achieve, etc? Additionally, the activities of our daily lives of working, trying to "get ahead", etc. seems only to drive us to focus inwardly on self rather than outwardly on others.

There isn't anything wrong with focusing on oneself, but if you focus on yourself more than others in your life, and the God who made you...then there is a problem. This is something I know I am good at--focusing inwards on myself, my needs, my desires...to the exclusion of others. Talking with other Christians, I know I am not alone.

I bring this up because it is a common battle. Last night I heard the story of a pastor/elder who drives to church, picking up others along the way, for 2 hours each way. This makes a total of 4 hours of driving. He does this once a week faithfully, and has been faithful for 18 years. Why he needs to do this isn't the issue. The issue is how he remains faithful to those who depend on him, and to his God who called him to this work. As the guy telling the story pointed out, how many of the rest of us would be so faithful so consistently for so long? The answer, without him saying it, is few...

Staying faithful to God and those in our lives requires love. God's Word says:

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered - 1 Cor 13:4-5

I highlighted in bold "it does not seek its own" because this is the key aspect of love I think we all fail at. In business we "seek our own" to get ahead. In friendships we can "seek our own", thinking of ourselves, wanted to lift ourselves up rather than listening and lifting up others. In family, we can "seek our own", looking to do the things we want rather than the things our family wants (as an aside, I saw a great picture of a father swinging a computer in a tree swing like it was a child and the caption asked something about "who are you father too"? reminding me in a powerful way what is really of importance).

As I stated above, I find it so easy to focus inward rather than outward, to spend more time with myself than with God or serving others. I confess this for only once reason: as a way to drive myself to being consistently faithful. The stuff of life (things, money, etc) are temporary. There is nothing wrong with them in of themselves, but they are temporary. We cannot "take them with us". Our relationship with our Eternal God, the relationship with our family who are also eternal if in Christ (which is something you want for your children, which requires you spend time with them), the relationships with others around you are all things things of eternal value and are things you can take with you.

I know I've discussed things like this before, but they bare repeating over and over again.

I pray God will give me the heart to be utterly faithful to Him without failing. To have such a heart will lead one in the right direction of outward thinking in all aspects of one's life.