God's Spurgeons

Yo, what’s the difference between faith and faithfulness?

To me, faith is trust and faithfulness is remaining true to that trust.

It has been said that marriage is a quantum leap of faith into a life of commitment; that is, if divorce is kept out of the picture! Perhaps then the covenantal parties may fear and tremble at the thought of venturing into this brand new life of 2-in1! It takes a mountain of faith to get married! Perhaps the females may better relate to it for there have been instances of runaway brides. But to be fair, there have also been isolated cases of the male party backing out at the eleventh hour.

Nevertheless, could this be the reason God uses the marriage institution to depict our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ? Could this also be the reason God said to work out our salvation with fear and trembling? I wonder?

Whatever it is, don’t play play with marriage! It is either wedding bell or suffering in hell! No U-turn! Again, this is true if divorce has not been legalized. Is this why God said that whatever He had united let no one separate?

At this point, may I add that young and unsuspecting girls should be aware of what some men or boys out there would do to give you a position, if you know what I mean? You have something very precious that once given is forever lost. Don’t give in to peer-pressure or silly threats by the opposite sex. I once heard of this being told:

Lost-it Girl: You mean you have not done it before?!? You are a dinosaur! Hahaha….

Still-Intact Girl: To be what you are now, it only takes me one night. But for you to be what I am now, NEVER! So who’s laughing now?

You tell me, who is cool? And to those who blew it, take comfort in the covenantal promise of grace that your sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more! 

Now back to where we were.

Marriage is serious. For good and for bad; in sickness and in health; till death do them part. This brings to mind Ruth 1:16-17: “Urge me not to leave you, or to return from following you: for whither you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge…where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried…but death part you and me.” Is not this just so beautiful!

Is it any wonder that our Lord Jesus Christ said something to the effect that if we cannot be faithful to those we can see how can we be faithful to those we cannot see? And therein lies the beauty of the Gospel.
We who are trapped in the flesh can never guarantee genuine faithfulness. But thank you gracious and merciful God for His Faithfulness; His real Faithfulness on which we can rest. Genuine stuff, cannot bluff kind of faithfulness. We may struggle with faith and faithfulness, but He remains steadfast in them. And our Father God is justified in doing so because our Lord Jesus Christ had made that possible by His perfect finished work on the Cross at Calvary!

The marriage institution is a lesson not so much to teach us faith and faithfulness but for us to appreciate the same of His and the wondrous work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Along with it, we begin to get a sense of sincere gratitude.

Some two years back, this word “gratitude” dawned on me. I have asked myself just how grateful I have been to our Lord Jesus Christ and just how sincere. Sadly, it was not there! Urgh.. You ungrateful insolent brat! How could you be so dull?!? Do you not know what that sacrifice on the Cross mean? How could you not feel a thing?!? If that did not move you, nothing in this world can!!!!

But that was really how I felt! I mean I could fake it but then again, who can ever do that before the all-knowing God?!? And I am not saying that I have arrived. No, no, no! I am beginning to scratch only the surface of it by the leading of the blessed Holy Spirit. But I have since realized:

1. Since God knows my heart, then I rather come clean with Him about everything.
2. I will never know what sincere gratitude for Jesus is unless the blessed Holy Spirit shows it to me. For that matter, I will not know the things of Christ unless the blessed Holy Spirit shows them to me!

By looking inward, with the leading of the Holy Spirit, I began to appreciate more of His grace.

When married, may we draw encouragement from His faith and faithfulness? If separated for whatever reasons, may we also draw comfort of the same from Him?

Our stay on earth is only temporal, an understatement really for the lack of a better word. All that we go through now is but part of the divine curriculum to prepare us to do His good works here and for our place in heaven. So, let’s cut more slack for each other.

Just stay cool, for He is cool! As He is, so am I in this world. Again, it is not how cool I am but how cool He is!