The Important Work of Daily Faithfulness
A few names in the New Testament make me nervous, like Alexander, Hymenaeus, and Philetus. Don’t get me wrong, they’re nice names (well, the first one is). But the stories behind these men are sobering when we consider what they teach us about following Christ. We don’t know a lot about them, but what we do know is alarming. Paul mentioned Hymenaeus and Philetus by name when he warned Timothy that mishandling God’s word leads to false teaching. The gangrenous effect of heresy had upset the faith of others when, Paul explained, these men “swerved from the truth” (2 Tim. 2:18). Paul also mentioned that Alexander with Hymenaeus had rejected the faith. As a result of their apostasy, Paul “handed [them] over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme” (1 Tim. 1:20). Tampering with the truth of the gospel has grave consequences. These men had rejected God’s truth and the church’s protection of it. If they had been faithful followers of Christ at one point, how did they slip downward into blasphemy?
Paul captured it in a phrase: they swerved from the truth. We put our souls in danger when we wander outside the safety of connectedness within the church and lose the truth of Scripture. The regular teaching and intake of Scripture in the community of faith protects us against falling away. The author of Hebrews tells us to “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Heb. 3:13–14). The church is vital in offering protection for our souls and helping us hold on to the truth of the gospel. Paul told young pastor Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture, to immerse himself in it, and to persist in keeping a close watch on himself (1 Tim. 4:13–16). While this was pastoral advice, there is great wisdom here for us. Persistent, regular exposure to Scripture and consistent connection to the church anchor our faith. Vigilance matters because the enemy wants to devour what he can.
Pushing Back Faithfulness Predators
“The church is vital in offering protection for our souls and helping us hold on to the truth of the gospel.”
Perhaps the stories of Alexander, Hymenaeus, and Philetus seem like overstated warnings of something unlikely to happen to us, but the truth is that without regular Bible intake, communion with the Lord in prayer, and connection to the church, it’s easier to swerve from the truth than you might think. It might not be as obvious in your life as it was in theirs. It might not take the form of embracing false teaching. It might look like nothing more than a reluctance to hold on to the things that keep us attached to Christ. But it is still the path that leads to death.
I’ve observed all kinds of people who either were never truly converted or whose profession of faith in Christ was smothered beneath the stress and strains of life. Countless predators and distractions are ready to gobble up our faithfulness after the gospel seed has been sown (Matt. 13:1–23). Some obstacles are so effective at scraping away anything appearing like perseverance that all that’s left is a nominal faith at best, which really isn’t faith at all.
Here’s the thing about true saving faith: it will always be evidenced by continued faithfulness to Christ. And that’s what we don’t see in Alexander, Hymenaeus, or Philetus— continued faithfulness. The way we distinguish good soil from bad soil in Jesus’s parable of the sower is by the evidence of fruit that grows in it. Faithfulness is proof of life. Jesus said it succinctly: “By your endurance you will gain your lives” (Luke 21:19). Jesus wasn’t talking about gaining physical lives but rather eternal ones. Perseverance reveals that the profession of faith was real, and it will result in real life with him in heaven. Paul said it similarly: “If we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Tim. 2:12).
The Long Haul of Faithfulness
Faithfulness to Christ isn’t a one-time decision. It cannot be sequestered to a faded memory of standing next to a pastor in front of a church and signing your name to a membership card. Nor can it depend on mountaintop experiences like conferences or concerts for nourishment. It can’t breathe between tiny spurts of Bible reading or emergency prayers. It can’t grow disconnected from the truth of Scripture, and it is unlikely to flourish apart from the body of Christ.
Faithfulness to Christ is a daily, lifelong pursuit. A lifetime of daily faithfulness will be full of unremarkable single days of faithfulness. And what encourages us to be steadfast on a daily basis is keeping an eye on this lifelong perseverance Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:13. Rather than fading from following him because our love has grown cold, “the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
“If you want to make certain that you don’t drift from the church when you’re older, then make sure you’re invested in the body of Christ now. Today’s efforts aren’t just for today! ”
Like anything that blossoms and produces fruit, faithfulness requires daily sustenance to grow. If you want to ensure that you’ll still be reading your Bible and carving out time to pray each day ten years from now, then you must begin making it a daily practice now. If you want to make certain that you don’t drift from the church when you’re older, then make sure you’re invested in the body of Christ now. Today’s efforts aren’t just for today! They’re for tomorrow and next week and next month and five years from now. If you want to guarantee that you don’t swerve from the truth someday, build your life around practices that keep you connected to Christ, his gospel, and his church.
Faithfulness to Christ requires dying to your desires every single day and instead submitting them to what pleases God. Faithfulness requires us to release our clenched fists, letting the love of entertainment, comfort, and laziness fall through our fingers, and watching it shatter, confident that God can bring good from our efforts at killing sin. It means believing that when Jesus died on the cross, he really did break the power of sin over you, so you are free to fight sin instead of catering to it. Faithfulness requires that we construct our days around the disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, and investment in the body of Christ rather than fitting those things in when we can.
The Fruits of Faithfulness
If we want our lives to be marked by steadfastness to Christ, then we can find comfort in knowing God has equipped us to that end. Beginning is as uncomplicated as getting up in the morning to read your Bible, and then doing the same thing the next day after that. And the day after that. Uncomplicated, but not always easy. Regular, everyday faithfulness to Christ doesn’t usually bring about fame or praise. No one is clapping when you roll out of bed a half hour earlier to pray or when you spend your lunch break reading your Bible, but you will grow in wisdom and in nearness to Christ as you persevere. You won’t get a raise when you leave work early to attend the midweek prayer service at church, but you will be knit tightly with other believers who are also walking a steadfast path with Christ. The accolades are few when you turn off the television to work on Scripture memory before bed, yet you’ll find that God’s word has the power to change the way you think. Everyday faithfulness feels ordinary because it should be ordinary for the believer. It’s expected, but it must be fed every single day to thrive. Faithfulness to Christ recognizes that the miracle of salvation continues in the miracle of sanctification. We are dependent upon God’s grace for both.
As faithfulness blooms and grows in your life, it will become a way of life, and it will bring about deep joy that cannot be eclipsed by the ordinariness of your days. The culmination of individual days of faithfulness results in a lifetime of following Jesus and becoming like him. Following Jesus will be your life!
Content taken from Everyday Faithfulness by Glenna Marshall, ©2020. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, crossway.org.
Glenna Marshall (BA, Union University) is a pastor’s wife and mother of two energetic sons. She is the author of The Promise Is His Presence and writes regularly at GlennaMarshall.com on biblical literacy, suffering, and the faithfulness of God. She is a member of Grace Bible Fellowship in Sikeston, Missouri.
