Devotional

To God, there is an all-important word: faithfulness. All through scripture, we see the high value God places on that concept. II Timothy 2:13 says that even when we are not faithful, he still remains faithful to his word. The Old Testament character, Daniel, and the New Testament character, Joseph, were great examples of true faithfulness despite the fact that they paid a high price to maintain their virtue. However, what so many seem to miss is that it was that same faithfulness that was rewarded by the highest position to which any non-royal could have been promoted.

To our present culture, faithfulness is for the religious and its relevance seems, for the most part, to have faded into ancient history. But there is a day coming when the population of the earth, past and present, will be judged for the way they've lived their lives and it is proclaimed in Revelation 2:10 that only those who have been faithful to Christ will receive a crown of life.

Since faithfulness is not a gift, but a choice--every one of us has the God-given privilege to choose what honors God or what promotes our own agenda. "Well done thou good and faithful servant..." will be conferred on those who've made this virtuous choice. The reward for such a choice is, "...enter thou into the (eternal) joy of thy Lord!" Matthew 25:23