The value of faithfulness
Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:
What did I like about today’s passage?
There is strangeness and some stuff I want to question in today’s passage. But I’m struck by the different ways in which God is emphasising the value of faithfulness with his people. This includes faithfulness to God and to each other.
Why is faithfulness to God so important? Here, God has arranged a nation to be literally, physically, centred around him. God’s big plan is not just for some people to be close to him, but for all of his people faithfully to amplify the characteristics of God and relationship with him so that the whole world would know how to regain closeness to their creator.
Without faithfulness to God and each other, this plan doesn’t work. Haven’t we seen modern nations make the same mistakes? Any society can believe itself to be founded on Christianity, but if the way it treats refugees, the vulnerable and the poor doesn’t faithfully reflect Jesus’ love, faith and self-sacrifice, how can it faithfully bring glory to God?
I like the different ways people could choose to demonstrate faithfulness and a growing commitment to relationship with God in this passage. Beyond the basics of physical purity, I’m intrigued by the Nazirite commitment which, for an adult, could be chosen for a time. Later, at God’s instruction, John the Baptist would be dedicated as a Nazirite before he was born. His special dedication to God meant that he could be used to point the way to Jesus.
I’m not so sure why men and women needed to be treated differently regarding faithfulness in marriage, and the test for women suspected of unfaithfulness seems barbaric. Can we trust that God was faithful to every woman unfairly accused? This probably seems like a big leap of faith in the 21st century. Trust in God’s faithfulness has to be a foundation for us too.
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
God is loving and faithful, and calls people to love and faithfulness to show this, not just to him and each other, but to the world. God enables us to be loving and incredibly generous when we respond faithfully to his guidance and recognise his provision of everything.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
I recognise from my reactions to some details of this passage that I’m actually asking the questions – is God faithful? Is God just? I’m doing that based on the idea that I know best! I need to grow my trust in God and remember how his faithfulness has looked different in other cultures. I recommit that God can change my mind to be more faithful to his values.
Who am I going to share this with?
People I’m following Jesus with in our (currently online) house group. We want to know how God is guiding us, and faithfulness in how we sense and share thoughts on this is vital!