The Faithfulness of Jesus
by Judy Stull
There are many, many powerful verses in the Scriptures. Each of us would have one or two, at least, that have been life changing. While I would not list the above verse as one of those for me, over the years I have come to see it as the one verse that tells me who I am, why I am here, why I am able to live faithfully, and how I am to live that life. As I have copied it, it’s a bit too long for a Tweet, but what a great Tweet in would be! I had to get it to this to Tweet it:
I died with Christ, and I no longer live. Jesus lives in me. I now live because of the faithfulness of the Jesus, who loved me and died for me.
In my life I have to continually be reminded of where I am: dead... in Christ, and yet alive... in Christ. Because of Him I am able to live this life, because of and due to His faithfulness, not mine.
Now, I know that I must have faith. But somehow this Scripture tells me that my faith isn’t enough to enable me to live life faithfully as a disciple of Jesus. What it does tell me is that I can indeed live a life of faithfulness because of the faithfulness of Him who lives in me: Jesus! It is Jesus’ faith that upholds me, strengthens me, enables me, and encourages me to trust in His ways on a daily, hourly, minute by minute basis.
I guess that’s why His yoke is an easy one... a yoke none the less, but an easier one than me trying to pull life together with my own yoke. And as someone has said, the life we can now live is the life that Christ himself lives, a life that is forever turned towards God. As long as Jesus is living His life out through me I am living my life God-ward, not self-ward; God-ward and not culture-ward; God-ward and not sin-ward.
But what excites me most about living by the faithfulness of Jesus is that in doing so I am participating in Jesus’s life of contact with the Father. The deep, overwhelming, powerful love that the Father has for His Son, Jesus, is the same love He has for me. Thus through Jesus’ life in me I need but be open to receiving and living in the love of the Father.
Therein is peace.
Judy Stull has been involved with Ellel Ministries since 2006. She is a retired school teacher and has been a minister’s wife for 40 years. Together she and her husband have one son who is married with two children. They are part of the leadership team at Ellel USA.
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