Thursday, June 4, 2015
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Velcro Man! That's what my wife and I nicknamed one of our good friends. And Jack, if you happen to be listening, I'm sorry you have to hear about this through the radio. Jack is Velcro Man! Everywhere we look in his house, his vehicle, his studio, we find a problem solved by Velcro; that special fabric tape that has hundreds of little hooks on one side and loops on the other side. Man, when you can connect them, they stick together!
Now, when Jack's wife got tired of fishing around the car for her sunglasses while she was driving, Jack simply attached her sunglass case to her visor with (Say it with me now...) Velcro. When they put their computer printer on a sloping surface, they secured it with Velcro. See, life is much more secure, much more workable when you've got something that sticks to everything.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Faithfulness - Hero Material."
When people commit themselves to Jesus Christ, God's powerful Holy Spirit moves into their life and personality and starts to produce the personal qualities of Jesus himself in someone who would otherwise be just a normal human being. The Bible calls those characteristics "the fruit of the Spirit." And they're listed in Galatians 5:22-23, where we find our word for today from the Word of God; nine great traits. Today we focus on just one.
"The fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness." Now, God really puts a high value on this faithfulness thing. He actually says, "It is required of stewards (that's all of us who know Him) that they be found faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:2). His personal welcome to heaven for those whose lives He's going to reward will be, "Well done, good and successful? No, good and faithful servant."
Well, what is faithful? God doesn't use the word in Psalm 15:4, but it sure illustrates it in plain language. It talks about people who will be able to dwell in God's sanctuary. It asks this question, "Who may live on Your holy hill?" One of the answers is, "He who keeps his oath even when it hurts."
If you're a faithful man or a faithful woman, you're human Velcro. You stick. You stick to your promises, whether it's to your child, your church, your boss, or to your God. Napoleon was asked why his army lost at Waterloo. He said, "It's because the British fought five minutes longer." That's what faithful people do. They're still fighting when everybody else has quit. They fight five minutes longer.
God's Velcro people stick with a person even when they give you a long list of reasons to give up on them. Thank God He didn't give up on you or me even though we've given Him plenty of reasons to. And there are people in your life, maybe your family whose last best hope is someone who, in the spirit of Jesus, will not quit on them. They need someone who is spiritual Velcro.
This is the kind of person Jesus was talking about when He said, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no." When you say you'll do something, you do it no matter what. When you commit yourself to a person, you will not abandon them no matter what. When you make a promise to God, you will keep it no matter what.
Human nature, especially in this generation, is to move on if something better comes along or if it gets hard. Human nature, yes. But that's why being faithful is the fruit of the Spirit. You can ask God to make you one of those priceless people, those heroes who can be trusted, believed, counted on. And why? Because like the Savior you serve, you stick like Velcro.