✝️In the early days of my ministry, I went through a wilderness experience. I was tempted to leave the local church where I came to Christ and was discipled.💪A pastor friend of mine gave me some of the best advice I have ever received. He said, “Throughout scripture, the one attribute that God honors more than any other is faithfulness.” It is easy to quit when the going gets tough and very few people remain faithful regardless of the circumstances.

Quitting is easy, but it has long-term, devastating consequences. Faithfulness is hard, but it does get easier with time and has long-term, priceless benefits. Just ask those who have been married for over 50 years. Faithfulness means to be consistent, dependable, and loyal despite the circumstances. It is a determination not to quit on God, yourself, or other people no matter what. It is a willingness to pay whatever price is required to honor your word and commitment.🌟

🗣Faithfulness is a virtue that is rare these days. People often are more apt to find reasons not to honor their word rather than to look for reasons to do so. God is the ultimate model of faithfulness. His faithfulness solely depends upon Himself and not on anyone else. His faithfulness is based on His nature and character and is not conditional based on what we say or do. Like God, our faithfulness must be based solely on our character and not conditional on what others do or say.

“If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for he cannot deny Himself.” - 2 Timothy 2:13

“For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself.” - Hebrews 6:13

Faithfulness is never past tense but is always present tense. There is no such thing as “I was faithful.” Either you are faithful, or you are not. Imagine a husband saying, “I was faithful to my wife until…” That man was never faithful! No matter how long you have been faithful, one act of unfaithfulness can ruin 50 years of faithfulness. Faithfulness is who you are, not what you do.🙌 

You are faithful when:

• You honor your word no matter what

• You are consistent

• You are willing to pay the price to follow through on your commitments

• You reject excuses to quit

• You do not allow what others say or do to cause you to not follow through on your commitments

• You under-promise and over-deliver

• You are covenantal (committed through love, win-win, unconditional, permanent, forgiving), and not contractual (limited, contingent, win-lose, can be broken if one side does not follow through)

💎The value of faithfulness in business is priceless. It will enhance your resolve to not quit, and cause you to keep going no matter what. It will build customer and brand loyalty because your customers, employees, and your vendors will realize your dependability. It will increase the performance of your employees because they will model your behavior. It will increase the overall productivity of the business, which will increase your bottom line. It will make you a better witness for the Lord Jesus Christ because you can be trusted.📯

📯Unfaithfulness can have long-term, devastating consequences: it tarnishes your character and weakens your internal resolve to walk in integrity. God does not call us to be perfect, but He does call us to be faithful–faithful to Him, faithful to ourselves, and faithful to our families, employees, customers, vendors and all of those to whom we make commitments.

My prayer for you this week is that God will give you the grace to be unconditionally faithful to Him, to yourself, and to others.

Copyright © Patrice Tsague NPIM