Fading Faithfulness
I wonder how often we decide to do something, and we start off doing well for a week or two, but then we begin to get lax and slowly we stop doing it altogether? I am afraid that happens to a lot of us. This is not a good thing, no matter what things we let slip. However, it is a very serious situation when God has commanded us to do something, or He has led us personally to make the commitment to do something. That comes down to a faith problem.
God was trying to work with Ephraim, and Judah. He was trying to get them to come back to Him, but He was not being successful in Hosea's time. (Hosea 6:4) God asked both of them what He should do for them, because their faithfulness was like a morning cloud and like the early morning dew that goes away. Their problem was a fading faithfulness. We all need to get to the root of this serious problem before God has to do something drastic to get our attention back on Him.
One of the most helpful things in our lives is to set priorities and to be consistent in fulfilling those priorities. In other words we must decide what is most important for us, and then be faithful to do those things every day, even if lesser things don't get done. We should set our priorities to be God's priorities which He has shown us in His Word. Then, we should decide to not let anything come in the way of completing those things. That is living a faithful life. We decide to be faithful to the Lord and His Word.
This trait will help us in our marriage and in being parents. It will be a great help with our job. When we are consistent in our service at church, God will show us His blessings, too. It is much better to start off slow and remain steady, than to start fast and fade out over time. Some people have told me that they just can't do this, but I have assured them that God has given us all the ability to exercise faith, and we are the only ones who can decide to be faithful consistently in prayer, Bible study, worship attendance, witnessing, and all of the other things God has for us to do. If He commanded it, we can do it!
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Tomorrow, I intend to read Hosea 7-9.