The Joy in Family (Day 5)

Christ the Faithful One

I know others have let you down. But Christ isn't just a title. It's a promise that you can count on Him to never leave you, never fail you, never abandon you.

Numbers 23:19 (ESV)

"God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?"

Devotional Thought

Christ.

The second title the angel gave. And this one cuts deep because of what it means.

Can I just say this? Not only can you not save yourself, but you can't even be faithful to yourself. I know others have let you down. But how many times have you let you down? How many promises have you made to yourself and broken? How many times have you said "never again" only to find yourself back in the same place?

Here's what I need you to know. Christ isn't just a title for the Messiah, the long awaited One. It's a promise. A promise that you can count on Him to never leave you, never fail you, never abandon you.

The Psalmist wrote, "And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you" (Psalm 9:10). This is incredible truth. God does not abandon those who seek Him.

Think about that for a moment. Every person who has ever let you down...they were human. Flawed. Limited. But God is not man that He should lie or a son of man that He should change His mind (Numbers 23:19). Has He said and will He not do it? Has He spoken and will He not fulfill it?

Isaiah recorded God's promise this way: "So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11).

This was the original "Promises made. Promises kept." ever said.

Just like a farmer who plants seed and trusts the ground and the rain and the sun to do their work, we can trust Christ to do what He has said He will do. The farmer doesn't make the seed grow. He trusts the process. And we don't make Christ faithful. He simply is.

Some of you have been wounded by unfaithfulness. Promises broken. Trust betrayed. People who said they would be there and weren't. That pain is real. I'm not asking you to pretend it isn't.

But I am asking you to consider this. The Christ who was born in Bethlehem has never broken a promise. Has never changed His mind about you. Has never abandoned those who seek Him.

He is faithful. And His faithfulness is not dependent on yours.

Tomorrow, we'll see what it means to embrace this joy...to move from hearing about it to actually taking hold of it.

Application Questions

1. What broken promises from others (or yourself) have made it hard for you to trust?
2. How does Christ's perfect faithfulness speak to those wounds today?

Today's Challenge

Find one promise from Scripture and write it somewhere you'll see it all day. Each time you see it, say out loud, "God keeps His promises."

Today's Prayer

Father, I confess that I have struggled to trust because of broken promises. People have failed me. I have failed myself. But You are not like us. You do not lie. You do not change Your mind. You do not abandon those who seek You. Today, I choose to trust Your faithfulness even when I can't trust my own. Help me to rest in the reality that Christ never fails. In Jesus' name, amen.