Faithfulness Unto Death

Today was Covenant Sunday at our church. I'll explain. In my denomination, we set aside the first Sunday of the year as a day where we write down the expectations we desire to see happen in our lives over the course of the year. The Covenant Form starts out like this :

" I make this covenant with the Lord that as His Hand Remains on me to Bless me and keep me in 2013, I shall..." 

And it ends with (after you have written out your covenant, expectation etc)

So help me God. 

Nobody sees your form except you and God. We are then encouraged to keep those forms and give testimonies concerning our covenants at the end of the year. I was looking over my covenant form from last year. Five out the the ten things I believed God for to happen in my life in 2012 did in fact happen and God deserves ALL THE GLORY ! This blog was one of them. Thank You, Lord.

So I got my form today and I was not sure what to write and so I brought it home. What are my expectations this year ? What covenant do I have to keep with my Lord and Savior ? From the 31st of December, one verse that has been ringing deep in my spirit is found in Revelation 2:10 :

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Faithfulness. This is not a word you hear in many circles these days. It sounds so old-fashioned, surprisingly even in Christian circles. Faithfulness. Faithfulness has been lost in marriage. It's been lost in our workplaces. It's been lost in our friendships and it seems like a lot of us have become a superficial lot who just want to move to the next best thing. But I digress.

One of the things I desire so much in my life is to remain faithful to God until the day I die. Why ? Because Jesus says He is going to give me a crown of life if I do that is why ! That was the verse I just quoted. However, in order for me to be faithful,I will experience many trials (that is also in the verse I quoted). This letter written to the church in Smyrna warned the Christians there to beware of the temptations and severe trials and tribulation they were about to experience. However, Jesus was telling them to remain faithful.

This is what I have been learning over the course of this first week of the year : faithfulness comes at a price. Many are faithful to a point and then abandon the race. But our Lord is looking for people who will be faithful to Him even if it means you are stripped naked and burnt on a stake (oh, by the way, yes, this happens in some parts of the world). Being faithful means the devil will throw all kinds of darts your way. It may come in the form of disappointment, hurts, false accusations, the feeling of being unappreciated by others, sickness or even death.

None of these however are supposed to perturb us. NONE. The goal is to remain faithful in spite of ALL the temptations, trials and persecutions that come our way. When we are truly faithful to God, that faithfulness will in fact trickle down to all our relationships as well.

A covenant I want to keep with God this year is to remain faithful and steadfast in my walk with Him this year. I want to be faithful in my marriage. I want to be faithful at work. I want to be faithful in church. I want to exhibit faithfulness in my friendships. No matter what I face this year, I shall keep my eyes on the prize for which God has called me heavenward (Philippians 3:14) by being faithful.

Faithfulness. Let's all try it this year. It may seem old-fashioned but it sure beats the confusion we see around us today.

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