9.73 Faithfulness under the New Covenant

We continue on the series on New Covenant living. Today, we will discuss on the important topic of “faithfulness” under the New Covenant.

So often do I hear people say, “If you are faithful to God, He will be faithful to you.” Have you heard that before? Or when someone is blessed, people say, “You are blessed because you have been faithful to God.” We hear it so often that we believe in it.

I have seen people who struggle all their lives to be faithful to God, so that God will be faithful to them. And when they are burnt out, leaders tell them, “You have to remain faithful…”

Don’t get me wrong. Faithfulness is important. I believe in faithfulness. But obviously there is something wrong with the approach above. So what is wrong? Firstly, the focus above is on man’s faithfulness to God. Secondly, we have made the “faithfulness of man” as the condition to earn God’s faithfulness in response.

For 1,500 years, Israel tried to be faithful to the covenant and requirements of God. God wanted to test their faithfulness to Him. But they failed. They were unfaithful and they broke God’s covenant.

(Ps 78:37)
For their heart was not steadfast with Him,
Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

Today, if you focus on your faithfulness to God, you will likewise fail. You will be burnt out trying to be faithful. Why? Because you are depending on your own strength.

So when Israel was faithless, God displayed His faithfulness by sending His Son Jesus to redeem mankind. When the world had nothing to offer or boast about, Jesus came down. He could have forsaken us because we deserved it, but grace came through Jesus.

The New Covenant is really about God’s faithfulness displayed through Christ. It is not so much about ours. In fact, the Bible says that even when we are faithless, He will remain faithful. This verse throws our earlier statement of, “If you are faithful to God, He will be faithful to you,” out of the window.

(2 Timothy 2:13-14)
If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

God doesn’t want us to put our confidence in ourselves. He wants us to put our confidence in His Son. If you are blessed, it is because He has been faithful to you. Our Christianity changes when we start to look upon His faithfulness.