BY PASTOR JACK WARD
Faithfulness is a dirty word among people today. Standing up for what you believe and being faithful to a cause is almost unheard of today especially among God’s people. Half-hearted effort and lack of interest plagues our society and even our churches today.
During the 1995 college football season, 6-foot-2-inch, 280-pound Clay Shiver, who played center for the Florida State Seminoles, was regarded as one of the best in the nation. In fact, one magazine wanted to name him to their preseason All-American football team. But that was a problem, because the magazine was Playboy, and Clay Shiver is a dedicated Christian.”
Shiver and the team chaplain suspected that Playboy would select him, and so he had time to prepare his response. Shiver knew well what a boon this could be for his career. Being chosen for this All-American team meant that sportswriters regarded him as the best in the nation at his position. Such publicity never hurts athletes who aspire to the pros and multimillion-dollar contracts.
But Shiver had higher values and priorities. When informed that Playboy had made their selection, Clay Shiver simply said, ‘No thanks.’ That’s right, he flatly turned down the honor. ‘Clay didn’t want to embarrass his mother and grandmother by appearing in the magazine or giving old high school friends an excuse to buy that issue,’ writes Walker. Shiver further explained by quoting Luke 12:48: ‘To whom much is given, of him much is required.’” “I don’t want to let anyone down,” said Shiver, “and No. 1 on that list is God”
John Newton, the writer of the most popular hymn in history, “Amazing Grace,” said: “… if two angels in heaven were given assignments by God at the same time, one of them to go and rule over the greatest nation on earth and the other to go sweep the streets of the dirtiest village, each angel would be completely indifferent as to which one got which assignment. It simply wouldn’t matter to them. Why? Because the real joy lies in being Faithful to God. For a Christ follower, the important thing isn’t what God has us doing; the important thing is that we’re doing what God wants us to do.”
People today don’t care whether they let God down, but they sure don’t want to let themselves down. It’s all about self — the new god of this world. That’s the god that everyone wants to be faithful to… the god of self. Matthew 25:21: “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
Whether our work is a success or a failure has nothing to do with us. Christian, your call is not to successful service, but to faithful service to our Lord. Watch where Jesus went. The one dominant note in His life was to do His Father’s will. He said that He had not come to do His will but His Fathers. His was not the way of wisdom or of success, but the way of faithfulness to our heavenly Father.
Listen to Pastor Jack’s sermons every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on 98.9 WSIP FM. Check out the Tomahawk Missionary Baptist Church Facebook page and our website at tomahawkmbc.com.