If we are faithless, He remains faithful;

for He cannot deny Himself.

II Timothy 2:13 (NAS)

Even when we are too weak to have any faith left,

He remains faithful to us and will help us,

for He cannot disown us who are a part of Himself,

and He will always carry out His promises to us.

II Timothy 2:13 (Taylor’s Living Paraphrase) [1]

Faithful is one of those words that are impossible to define or to describe. There is just too much there! You, because of what you have come to know about Jesus Christ in your walk with Him, might have an entirely different definition. You can go to your Bible and come away with scriptures that tell us just what “faithful” means,[2] but when you are asked to give your definition you can only shake your head and answer, “Impossible! I cannot describe all that it means to me.”

I’m confident that most of you have heard the story about the faithful dog who when his master died refused to leave the grave site and eventually breathed his last breath lying by his master’s grave. That’s faithful, isn’t it? Then there’s the “wonder dog” Lassie, who taken far, far from home traveled many dangerous, difficult miles until she was once again with her master. That’s faithful, isn’t it? We have read that Peter, the disciple, refused to be crucified as Jesus was, so they crucified him upside down! Faithful means so many things!

History tells us that as Polycarp entered the stadium where he was to be martyred, a voice came to him from heaven; “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.” And when he was pressured to recant and praise Caesar, Polycarp confessed, “Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Faithful. Amazing!

Webster tells us that faithful means: loyal, conscientious, reliable, accurate. We could put a list of adjectives under each of his words to help us understand, but it is so deep within us–so much a part of us–that mere words will not suffice.

There are some scriptures that give us insight into His faithfulness:

II Thess. 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. So we find security in His consistency, His protection, and His power. He is faithful about this–meaning we do not doubt His carrying out this promise.

II Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ. Our relationship with Jesus does not depend on our strength or us. It is through Him that we were called and it is through Him that our salvation will stand. It is eternal because of His faithfulness.

Psalm 36:5 Your loving kindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. It cannot be measured. Think. It reaches to the skies. That means that it is unfathomable! There is absolutely no way that it can be measured.

Psalm 119:90 Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations. And it isn’t something that will finally dwindle into “nothingness.” It goes on and on and on -from generation to generation to generation–eternally.

Lamentations 3:22-23 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness. God’s faithfulness doesn’t disappear in the darkness, in fact, it’s brand new every morning. His love. His kindness. His compassion. He starts all over again with each new day. You are disappointed with your day yesterday? Well, He lets us start all over again at 12:01–the beginning of new day.

How can you describe faithfulness? Your faithfulness? We understand that we may be faithless[3]–that our faith may waver. “When we are too weak to have any faith left, He remains faithful to us.” His faithfulness is ceaseless. Ceaseless. That’s another word that we can’t understand, but then we don’t have to understand. We just mutter, “God, how precious You are to me. I love You and never do I want to live without Your faithfulness to me–and because of You and Your love for me, I will never have to!”

How can we ever thank You for your faithfulness to us? We can’t. What can we say to You? What can we give You?

I know what He wants. The simple song children sing tells us. There’s just one thing.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd I’d give him a lamb.

If I were a wise man I would do my part.

What can I give Him?

I will give Him my heart.

[1] Please read that verse over and over again. Ponder it. Analyze it. Believe it!

[2] II Corinthians 5:7 (Amplified Bible) “For we walk by faith (that is we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk) not by sight or appearance.”

[3] II Timothy 2:13 (NAS)