Does God Want Us To Be Dependable?

Does God want us to be dependable?

Does it even matter if we’re dependable people?  

What is it about God that is so reassuring to you?  Some might say that it’s his mercy, his forgiveness, or the constant care that He shows for us.

But I think that more than all of those things, we should find reassurance in God’s faithfulness to us.  Without God’s faithfulness, if He was only merciful some of the time, if He only forgave us occasionally, if He cared for us only sporadically, then none of those things would be reassuring at all.

Ultimately, whether we realize it or not, the hope that we have in God, and in our salvation, is based on God’s dependability.

We can have strong encouragement in the unchangeable nature of God.  Because He is unchangeable we can flee to Him for refuge.  God can be the steadfast anchor of our soul because He never changes.
Hebrews 6:17-18  So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain…

And we wear Christ’s name.  He gave it to us.   The Greek word translated “called” is chrēmatizō, which means to be divinely called.  God gave us the name Christian.  He chose for His disciples to be called by His name.
Acts 11:26b  And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

Not only are we called by Christ’s name, we’re told that we should imitate Him with our lives.
1 Peter 1:14-16  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.
1 John 2:5b-6  By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

And if we take on that character of God, that dependable nature that gives us so much hope….How will the world view us?

Now I’m not saying that we can’t ever change our minds about something.  The world understands that sometimes our opinions will change on things.

• If I say I want Mexican food for lunch tomorrow, then change my mind and get pizza instead-The world understands that changing our mind is a normal thing to do.
• But if I say I want Mexican food WHEN I REALLY WANT PIZZA, people won’t have faith in anything else we say.

When we say one thing and mean another, when we deceive everyone around us, or when we don’t keep our word, we’ve not only violated God’s will-We’ve abandoned His character.
Proverbs 12:22  By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Colossians 3:9-10  Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

God is not just calling us to be honest, reliable and dependable.  He’s calling us to be like Him.

So what does that mean for us?  Well, for starters, I think that it means we’re missing the real message behind passages like Matthew 5:37.
Matthew 5:37  Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

We can get so hung up on “don’t swear” that we lost sight of the fact that we’re being called to be dependable people.  People that can be relied on.  People who can be trusted.

When we tell the world that we know what will bring them peace, that we know how to fix their broken families, that we know the key to the salvation of their souls……But we never show up when we say we will, if we don’t follow through with the help we offer, if people can’t depend on us for the simple things in life…..Then WHY WOULD THEY EVER believe us when we say that we have the answers to the biggest problems they face?

God calls us to be like Him, and the greatest single attribute that He possesses is His dependability, his faithfulness to do what He says.  We wear His name, and we should honor it with our actions.