from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager
LOVE & FAITHFULNESS
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
Proverbs 3:3-4
At day’s end, I have a bad habit of taking off my necklace and earrings in random places through out my home. Sometimes they end up on the bathroom counter, sometimes by the kitchen sink, on my desk, or the lamp stand. Occasionally they even end up in my jewelry box where they belong!
Just the opposite is true of my rings. I never take them off. Ever. They feel as much a part of me as my God-given, natural body parts!
Proverbs 3:3 says, Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. When you think about the character traits of love and faithfulness in your life does it look more like the inconsistency I have with putting jewelry away or is it as bound to your neck and the tablet of your heart as my rings are to my fingers? Are you and I faithful or inconsistent in taking every opportunity to love and serve, talk about God, pray, and give thanks? Are we diligent or erratic servants of the King? Is our faith walk and talk consistent or contradictory with God’s Word?
God says through Solomon, Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find? (Proverbs 20:6)
Jesus knows how prone we are to the temptation to be unloving, lazy, and faithless. When He spoke about His return He urged His followers to remain alert and watchful. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him (Matthew 24:44).
When love and faithfulness are bound to our actions and attitudes we will be faithful and wise servants who won’t need to fear or be ashamed when Christ returns. Jesus said, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns” (Matthew 24:45-46).
It was the Good Samaritan, not the religious priest and Levite, who let love and faithfulness never leave them (Luke 10:30-37). Jesus points us to the Good Samaritan and says to you and me, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37b).
Wisdom Step: Is there an area of your life that is not marked by love and faithfulness? Ask God to help you reflect His love and faithfulness in every part of your life today.
The reward of being ‘faithful over a few things’ is just the same as being ‘faithful over many things’; for the emphasis falls upon the same word; it is the ‘faithful’ who will enter ’into the joy of their Lord.’”
Charles S. Robinson
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