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“I have loved you with an eveflasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”

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Staying the course can be tough. Our minds may tell us to hang in there but the desire to do so can fade until our hearts are no longer in it. A fading resolve speaks the right words and goes through the motions. Faith can be like that too.

God has made promises. Our security does not rest in our committment to those promises, but in God’s resolve to keep them. This is, essentially, the meaning of your baptism.  “Mans’ word is vapor”, said Martin Luther, “but God’s Word is a mountain of granite.” We can put the full weight of whatever faltering faith we can muster on the promises of God. But our faith is not the focus. God’s faithfulness is the story.

One of the ancient Chinese symbols for faithfulness was the symbol of a man next to the symbol for word. Faithfulness is a man keeping his word. We have trouble here. God does not. God is faithful.

That faithfulness is most wonderfully expressed in Jesus Christ. In Christ God answers our faltering faith with the certainty of His love. The Scriptures, the preaching of the Gospel and the sacraments are all expressions of God’s faithful Word, given to you. The person who stands by that Word may falter but he will never fail. Earthly values and committments may crumble but God’s Word endures.

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“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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