God's faithfullness

It has been a while since i have posted on here so i just wanted to take some time and not write about one thing, but just articulate some things i feel God has been teaching me as of late. However, i started writing my first thought and then i started reading commentaries on it, and i decided that i should just stick with it...



1) His faithfulness is bigger than my doubt, 2 Timothy 2:11-13;



"If we died with him

we will also live with him;

if we endure,

we will also reign with him.

If we disown him,

he will also disown us;

if we are faithless,

he will remain faithful,

for he cannot disown himself."



If we died with him - Through our salvation in Christ, we are one, and there as he died on the cross so too did we. While he physically suffered and died, as repentant Christians our old selves, our sins, our old way of live, also died with him.



we also live with him - Since we died with him as one, we too live with him as one. As his chosen people, we share in his glory. It just hit me again, how backward God and Christianity is (at least to the wisdom of the world), because for the world, life begins at birth and ends in death, basically life begets death. However, the gospel and the cross, say that through death, life begins, basically death begets life. I like that...



If we endure (suffer) - For me this is the hard part. What this looks like for me, right now, is looking at my budget and realizing that the money i have, is not mine, but God's. I've been working for almost a year now, so i have been developing a strategy for my money so that i can provide for myself, and one day my wife, then my kids, and then my retirement. It's a wonderful process, because it's so important to be a good steward with what God provides. It's tough though, cause in my limited faith, i feel like, i need it all, and i get caught thinking of all the things i could do with that extra 10%. But who am i? Who am i to tell God that i trust him with my life, but i don't trust you to provide for me on 90% of my income. My pastor said it so well, he used his life as an example, and asked us how much is a loving wife worth? How much are three loving children worth? etc... There is no price tag, all good gifts come from God, and i hope that i will always give back a portion of what he as given me, not like Cain, but with the heart of Abel.



We will also reign with him - this is the cool part, because our suffering for him, brings God glory, and ultimately will gloryify us too, which is how we can take joy in our trials. We reign for all eternity with Christ, which begins at salvation. It's so comforting to know that God is with me, and while i may face trial or suffer here, my kingdom is secure in the eternal grace of God. What hope! I've mentioned it before, but this is why the new testament writers are always pointing to eternity and to put our hope and thoughts and joy in Christ's eternal glory. Faith, the assurance of things hoped for.

If we disown him, he will disown us - I think this speaks for itself. God is just, we were created for his purpose to be holy and glorify him. In the same way that if i had a spoon that had a hole in, i would through it away because it does not fulfil the purpose it was created for, God will disown us if we disowned the purpose we were created for.

If we are faithless, he will remain faithful - The foundation of the God who was, is and is to come. God does not change, and his character is not dependent on us, his love, his agape is not conditional. He is the rock, the cornerstone, the God of the OT is the God of the NT. Even as a christian, i have to remind myself that when i fail, that God does not, and that he will provide and that i should trust his faithfulness. On the other side, this is why it is really funny, or sad, that atheist will say that God does not exist and then spend their whole lives trying to prove God doesn't exist. It's the same as me going into a closet and saying the sun does not exist, i can say it all day long, but my view does not determine whether the sun exists or not.

He cannot deny himself - Again, God is who he says he is. His word is true and if i find myself confused or misguided i need only to look into the God who judges without partiality, and trust that he will lead me by the still waters, even if i can't see them.


Sorry if this got long, but i started looking into this set of verses and i had never really studied them. I wanted to just write little bits about several different things, but for me, there are times where i just become enamoured with God's word and i had to just sit on this for a bit. I used crosswalk.com and found a great set of commentaries, John Gill's Exposition of the Bible, and i would highly recommend it for help studying the bible.

As i always try to, i found a great video the other day. It was truly awesome, so watch and enjoy!!! It's called the cardboard testimonies...

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8616c1559ab4221b3910