Keeping the faith

One of the tenets of the faithful is sustainability. It is not enough to have acted in some particularly spiritual, particularly sacrificial way, nor is it enough to have retained and reinforced a paradigm of service - for when your works have caught up with you, as your age, so will you eventually wither and die. So clearly, the key to sustainability, as well as the opportunity to be counted faithful, require us to endorse a more permanently lasting endeavors.

Such an endeavor can be raising children - and I realize that a large part of raising children is to optimize the likelihood they will seek after the Lord's heart. Indeed, if we look to a person's heart as reflecting the teachings of that person's parents, their grandparents, and so on, we get a picture of the kind of framework God has always worked in, and where our part comes in.

This is appropriate to consider because it is one of the greatest trials any of us will ever face -

• Can you maintain for decades?


• Can you maintain long enough to teach others what you believe?


• Can you maintain long enough to be a resource of wisdom?


• Can you maintain in a position long enough to be of use to God?

I believe it is this point God is getting at when He wants us to focus on life eternal, when He has us seeking first the kingdom of God, when He has us being rewarded because were faithful to the end.

Our model for the best a people can expect, to my mind, has always been the children of Israel. I have always seen them as having the best of the best and the worst of the worst. Certainly not perfect, but they run the gamut of attributes.

In the first chapter of Judges you see the children of Israel have just started to really take on the promised land. They've already had their various lands allotted to them and they are flushing out locals - but not enough. And we can see the same thing in our own lives.

God called the children of Israel to get rid of all the locals - predominantly to stop them from worshipping false Gods; but, in city after city, they leave a little here, a little there, the result being that God finally sends an angel to confront them about it. They repent, certainly, but the damage is done - and within a generation, following the death of Joshua, the children of Israel had already forgotten God.

Will YOU forget God?

My call to action - sustain:

• Find a promise
  
  Spend ten minutes today in quiet solitude, asking God about a promise you've made. It doesn't matter how big or small, but ask Him to reveal a promise you've intended to keep but have forgotten about, one that you haven't forgotten but haven't gotten around to acting, or maybe one that you actually promised to keep but have set aside due to concerns of the day.


• Plan a promise
  
  You see how easy it is to forget promises to yourself, promises to others, and promises to God - the resolution is to PLAN on keeping the promise. Set aside some time today and plan out HOW to keep the promise.
  
  If you've promised to pray more, set aside time during the day to do so, while also making provision to not be distracted.
  
  If you've promised to eat better, find a way to remind yourself at every meal, as well as before each meal, so that during the meal itself you're not two spoonfuls away from completion and then realize you had forgotten completely.
  
  If you've promised to sleep better, plan it out that way, better organizing your responsibilities and resources so that it is POSSIBLE to sleep better.


• Keep a promise
  
  Record your exploits and share it with someone you trust and to whom you can be accountable. If you promised to exercise every day, keep a record of how much you jog, bike, hike, or how many push-ups you do, and share in your joys and defeats with that person. Also remember that YOU picked the person, so if they offer advice, and after prayer it seems wise, do your best to accommodate that advice.