That I gave my brother Hananai, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many. Nehemiah 7:2
Many of us have our favourite expressions that we learned from Dr. Seuss books when we were kids. One of my favourites was from the book entitled Horton Hatches the Egg. Tasked with the responsibility of taking care of an egg, the elephant Horton utters the famous words: I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful one-hundred percent. Elephants may well be noted for their faithfulness, but not all people are. That is why it is such a good commendation to be known as a faithful person. The Hananiah referred to in our text had such a reputation. So should everyone who fears the Lord.
Our God appreciates faithfulness because He is faithful, and the more faithful we are, the more we are like Him. Every Christian should be noted for faithfulness. First and foremost, the Christian should be faithful to the name of Christian. The Word of God teaches us how a Christian should behave, how a Christian should function among other Christians and among non Christians, what a Christian’s thought life, prayer life, and worship life should be, and what a Christian’s attitude should be toward God and His people. Faithfulness means practicing what we profess, even when nobody is looking (except God). So, being faithful to our name as a Christian is to be faithful to the Word of God.
A faithful Christian should also be faithful to his commitments. Remember when we were first saved, we acknowledged Jesus Christ as both Saviour and Lord. As our Lord, He deserves our fullest commitment to His name and cause. As our Lord, His priorities replace our own. As our Lord, he imposes on us the responsibility to obey and trust Him, to love each other, and to carry His Gospel to the lost. That sounds like a tall order, but a faithful Christian will accept that challenge.
A faithful Christian will also strive to become a better Christian. That means study of the Word of God, that we might learn more of the Lord Jesus and more of the great truths and principles of the Scriptures. It also means working with other Christians so that we will improve in our ability to be os service to our Lord and His people. It also means spending time in meditation and prayer, that we might develop a deeper personal relationship with our Lord.
A faithful Christian will recall the first mention of the word ‘Christian’ in our Bible, the reference to the believers being called Christians first in Antioch (Acts 11:26). Those two words – Christians first – remind us that being a Christian is the uppermost important reality in our lives. Everything else takes second, or third, or fourth place. Being a Christian is more important than our work or school, more important than our families, more important than even life itself. And if we will remember that and seek to put it into practice, we will be known as a faithful Christian. -Jim MacIntosh