2 Timothy 2:13 says, “if we are faithless, He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself.”

In one’s walk with Christ, this is a great comfort. By it, we have comfort that our spiritual state does not depend on our ability but on His faithfulness. As we follow Jesus, regardless of how often we stumble, He remains faithful and our salvation is secure. This does beg the question as to why we even need to be faithful, but to that one can ask the rebuttal question, “why should we claim to follow Jesus, if we don’t desire to be faithful?”

But let us, for the sake of argument, assume that all of those reading this aren’t seeking a license for sin but are seeking to follow Jesus, and be further conformed to Christ’s image.

Given that groundwork, consider how this principle applies to parenting. When I fail as a parent, when I forget to teach something or fail to do so, God is still faithful and He has my back! And this applies, whether a single parent or a married parent. God is filling in the gaps you don’t even realize are there!

This reality does not absolve us of the responsibility to raise our children to honor Jesus in all they do, raising them to revere God for Who He is and what He has done, that they would be followers of Jesus as well. However, it does give us confidence that our flaws and failures do not have to crush or “ruin” our children. It gives us a reassurance that God is working behind the scenes, using what we do and developing in our children what we forget.

In my own children, this has translated to them learning things by example but also by an example I do not remember setting. I am blessed, as I hoped to teach them such things, but I failed. Still, they learned certain ways of respecting adults, of behaving, of even doing certain chores that I had failed to remember to teach them. Because He is faithful!

My own mother used this signature in her emails, “Because He is faithful!”

This post is meant to be short, as I hope to leave you some time to contemplate this deep truth. Even when we lack faith, He is faithful.

Consider how Paul puts it in Romans 3:3-4a, “What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar…”

And by means of application, consider the father who approached Jesus about his demon-possessed son. Jesus chided him for his lack of faith, provoking the response, which the Bible tells us the father cried out and said (so, this was quite the impassioned response, as any of us could imagine giving as a parent seeking the healing of our child), “I believe; help my unbelief!” And at this, Jesus had compassion on the man. Consider His compassion for you, fellow Believer!

If you don’t know Jesus, then this comfort isn’t there for you. He is still faithful, but we are called to bow the knee to His Lordship, accept His death in our place, acknowledge His resurrection, and begin following Him through time in the Word (as it tells us about Him) and prayer (as it connects us directly to Him). So, if this comfort is something you desire and you’re ready to give up your control of your life and follow Jesus, then you can accept Him, as described in this paragraph and this comfort is yours, along with a relationship with the One True God of the universe and everything!

Godspeed – 1 Corinthian 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is within me.”