Are you a faithful person? Do you remain faithful when things don’t go as you want? Do you do all that is asked of you without complaint or expectation of special treatment?
Jesus gave His disciples a lesson on what a faithful heart looks like in response to their request that He increase their faith.
“The apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith!” Luke 17:5
If I was asked such a question I would be inclined to think about what it takes to build faith, such as digging deeper into the word of God, since faith comes from hearing God’s Word.
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
I might also suggest that people use the faith they have to build it up by exercising it. However Jesus answered differently.
Jesus explained that the smallest amount of faith could work miracles.
“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this tree be uprooted and planted in the sea and it will obey you.” Luke 17:6
Then Jesus explained about having a Faithful Heart. In the Koine language Jesus spoke the word for faith is the same word as that for faithfulness. So Jesus saw building faith as connected to our level of Faithfulness.
Jesus talked about someone having a servant working in the field who returned to the house at the end of the day. Jesus asked if the master of the house would serve the servant by making a meal for him.
That would never happen. A servant is expected to serve. A servant is expected to do all the master asks of him, without expecting any consideration or special treatment. The servant is in the home to ‘serve’.
“Won’t the master rather say, Prepare my supper then wait on me while I eat and drink and after that you may eat and drink’?” Luke 17:8
We don’t have a record of any response from the Disciples, but they certainly would have agreed with Jesus. A servant is not being abused when expected to do his duty. The servant may serve himself when he has finished serving his master.
Jesus asked, “Will the master thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?” and the answer is “Of course not!”
Then Jesus added, “So you also, once you have done everything you were told to do, say, We are unworthy servants; we only did our duty.?” (Luke 17:10)
Jesus described a Faithful Heart, by showing us the true humility of a dutiful servant. The servant doesn’t look for favours or expect to be rewarded for doing what it expected. That’s just his duty.
Any servant who became resentful at the workload, or at having to watch his master eat while he is hungry himself, is out of order. That would be pride or self-focus. A servant isn’t to be focused on himself, but his tasks and duties. When the servant has done all that was assigned for him to do he can’t brag about that. That was simply what was expected.
So, the Disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith and Jesus responded by showing them what a Faithful Heart looks like.
Some time later Jesus asked a strange question, about whether there will be faith in the earth when Jesus returns.
“When the Son of Man comes will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8
Jesus is not asking about faith in our hearts for salvation, but most likely asking if there will be people with a Faithful Heart. Will there be people who will humbly go about their service of God without grumbling, or being selfish, or expecting special treatment from God?
To illustrate what a Faithful Heart might look like consider the Apostle Paul who was called by God to do great things. He was already warned that he would suffer many things in the process of serving Christ.
When Paul wrote from prison to his protege Timothy he tried to cheer Timothy up. Paul was the one in prison, yet he had not become resentful, but remained faithful to Christ.
In his second letter to Timothy, Paul declares his fixed place of faith in Christ.
“For the cause of Christ I suffer, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know who I believe in, and am persuaded that he is able to keep the things I have committed to himself, ready for that future day.” 2Timothy 1:12
So let’s look into our own hearts. We are expected to be faithful children to our parents and we promise to be faithful in marriage. Parents are to care for their children faithfully. We are to serve our employers faithfully and to live for God faithfully. We are to be faithful with our responsibilities and commitments.
Yet many people have excuses for being unfaithful, inconsistent, selfish and proud. Children rise against parents, and spouse despises spouse, while parents give up on their children and employees abuse their employers. People even resent God and feel they can do as they please, being slack with responsibilities and their word.
If you have a Faithful Heart you will be solid in your readiness to do all that is required of you, without even giving yourself a pat on the back. That is your duty, so you can hardly take credit for it.
If you are a faithful child, faithful spouse, faithful parent, dutiful employee, always true to your word and trusting God no matter what goes wrong, then you have no right to congratulate yourself. That is your basic duty.
And having that kind of Faithful Heart has built you up in your faith. How do you increase your faith? You step up to a new level of faithfulness.
So, may the Lord lead you to lift your game, repenting of unfaithfulness of heart and becoming diligent in doing all that is required of you, without expecting anything in return. And may the Lord bless you abundantly for your Faithful Heart.
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