H.H Pope Tawadros II preached his weakly sermon at Wednesday meeting this evening from the Papal residence in Cairo. It was aired exclusively through Cristian’s channels and C.O.C channel that is affiliated to the church’s media center via internet without any audience.
The sermon was titled by “Cultivate Faithfulness” as a part of his series of musings that H.H presents threw out Psalm 37, as H.H talked about the importance of the Farewell virtue which is one of the Holy Spirit fruits. He presented a number of examples from the Holy Bible and the church’s saints whom have achieved Farewell.
H.H started from the beginning of September a new serious of sermons in his weekly Wednesday’s meeting throw out Psalm 37 titled by “Lessons of Wisdom” and the “Cultivate Faithfulness” subject is the forth lesson in this serious.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. One God. Amen. May His grace and mercy rest upon us, from now and forevermore. Amen.
I wish you a happy and blessed Feast of the Cross. This is one of three times we celebrate the cross, annually: the first is this time (the month of Tout), and we celebrate it for 3 days; the second time is on Great Holy Friday, and the third is on the 10th of Baramhat (in March). May you be blessed on this first feast of the Coptic New Year.
Sermon Highlights:
5 Ways God demonstrates His faithfulness toward us:
- God saves us
- God forgives us
- God stand by us during times of difficulty
- God is the One carrying the load, completely
- God’s promised rewards for those who live faithfully
7 Areas we are to “cultivate faithfulness”: Practicing faithfulness:
- With God
- With ourselves
- With our families
- With our studies or work
- With our service-ministry
- With our money
- With our time
Faithfulness is a Commandment: “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10). The words “be faithful” carry a sense of personalization, continuity, required command, and complete commitment.
Introduction
This is our fourth in a series of wisdom lessons from Psalm 37. This Psalm is composed of 40 verses and they are essentially lessons in wisdom, and so O you, human, who wishes to learn what is wisdom and to live your life according to it, read this Psalm regularly and apply it in your life. Study and learn its statements and its teachings and lessons, which all revolve around a person’s living by wisdom.
1-The first wisdom lesson we learned was from verses 1 and 2: Do not fret nor be envious of evildoers because success that comes from wrongdoing is temporary, is quickly cut down like the grass, and is of no heavenly/eternal value.
2-The second wisdom lesson we learned was from the first part of verse 3: Trust tin the Lord, and do good – that we are to trust in the Lord and not in ourselves, not in others, and not on wealth or money. In addition to that, we are to also do good; to take advantage of every opportunity to do something good.
3-The third wisdom lesson we learned was from the second part of verse 3: Dwell in the land – that during our time here on Earth we are to both maintain a sense of being a stranger or temporary guest, while at the same time inhabiting, populating, cultivating the land and protecting the health of the environment.
Today’s wisdom lesson is from the third part of verse 3, to “cultivate faithfulness,” which, as we will see, can take on many different meanings, nevertheless, if we put the lessons we are learning from Psalm 37 into practice, we will be living our lives according to wisdom. And now, as usual, let us begin with a reading of Scripture, from Psalm 37. I will read the first 11 verses.
Psalm 37
1Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
2For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
3Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and cultivate faithfulness.
4Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
6He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
7Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
8Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm.
9For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
10For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more.
11But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
The grace of God the Father be with us all. Amen.
Cultivate faithfulness
The fourth wisdom lesson from Psalm 37 is “cultivate faithfulness.” This is a very nice expression and I want to explore several of its meanings (from the original Hebrew as well as the Arabic) with you. For example, instead of “cultivate faithfulness,” other translations or interpretations of the Hebrew or Arabic words here are: to tend what has been entrusted; to tend the faith or faithfulness itself. As a shepherd tends or pastures or cares for his flock, we are to watch over, guard, tend to, protect, and “shepherd” what has been entrusted to us by God, and to cultivate and protect faithfulness itself.
I would like to start by telling you the story of Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth, and how when Naomi’s husband and two sons died, leaving both of them widows, Ruth the Moabite (also a Canaanite) refused to return to her family and father’s house and instead chose to cling to her mother-in-law and live with her. And Ruth began to work in Boaz’s field – we read the story in the Book of Ruth, it is a very beautiful story – but the heart of the story is that Naomi and Ruth depended upon the faithfulness of God and they themselves remained faithful, each in her own way.
5 Ways God demonstrates His faithfulness toward us
Yes, we are to be faithful, but God is also faithful. And here I would like to talk with you about some of the ways that we, as humans, experience God’s faithfulness. We always describe God as being “faithful and holy” – we find this characterization of God in the Books of Isaiah and Hosea, and in the Book of Revelation it says, “The faithful Witness.”
1-In His salvation
After Adam fell [into sin], God promised to save him and God did in fact fulfill this promise in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the faithfulness of God is a sort of inner work of trust; trusting and being confident that God is at work within us. When St. Paul was aboard the ship heading toward Rome to appear before the judge, the ship was wrecked, but what did Paul declare to those on board? “And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship … So take courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me” (Acts 27:22,25 NKJ, NIV).
Paul had received a promise from God and so he was confident that no one on the ship would lose their life, even if they had to hold onto a piece of wood from the destroyed ship, but not one life among them would be lost.
2-In His forgiveness
Another way we experience God’s faithfulness is in His forgiveness toward those who repent, as it says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9) – the faithfulness of God.
Another illustration of God’s faithfulness is when they brought the woman who had sinned to the Lord and placed her in their midst; they were getting ready to stone her while having forgotten their own sins. And we read how the Lord Jesus Christ very calmly and yet very faithfully “… raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’ 8And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ 11She said, ‘No one, Lord.’And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go andsin no more’” (Jn 8:7-11).
3-In His standing by us through difficult times
We all go through troubles and temptations, but God stands by our side and always passes the difficult times. Even when we ourselves cannot imagine how a difficult time or situation will pass, but God’s faithfulness and God’s Spirit comfort us and allow us to pass through it safely.
[Scripture also tells us,] “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor 10:13).There is a saying that goes, “Lord, I am carrying a heavy load on my shoulders. I will not ask You to remove it, but I ask You to strengthen my shoulder so that it may be able to bear it,” and God provides the support.
4-In His carrying the load, completely
Another beautiful illustration of God’s support is when we see a young child walking with his father. The father is carrying the heavy bag while the child merely has his hand on it, yet the child imagines that he is helping his father carry it while all the while his father is doing the heavy lifting. So it is with us and God; God is the One doing all the lifting.
5-In His promised rewards for those who live faithfully
The subject of God’s faithfulness is of course a very great one, but if we were to just look at another example from the New Testament, the parable of the talents, where the master tells his servant, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (Mt 25:23), and so we see that there is a reward for being faithful at our work.
“Whoever is faithful with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Lk 16:10). Faithfulness cannot be compartmentalized, and that is why he tells us to guard and tend to the virtue of faithfulness we have been given; care for it as you would a young child or as you would any other valuable thing in your life. And so you do [already] have faithfulness, only you must take care of it.
I like very much the Scripture from the Book of Revelation 2:10 that says, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” To “be faithful” here is intended for each one of us, [as in “you … you, be faithful until death.”] Also, to “be faithful” has a sense of continuity, as in, you are to be, to continue to be in faithfulness – today and tomorrow and so on, until the end. Also, “be faithful” has a sense of command, as in, to be faithful is a commandment and not a choice. To be faithful is not a choice you are being offered, but rather, it is a commandment you are being given, and you are not free to be faithful today but not tomorrow, and so on.
And so the words “be faithful” carry a sense of personalization, continuity, required command, and complete commitment; faithfulness is a Commandment. And this Scripture (Rev 2:10) is fulfilled in two parts: the first half of it here on earth – “Be faithful until death,” and the second half in heaven – “and I will give you the crown of life.”
7 Areas we are to “cultivate faithfulness”: Practicing faithfulness
Let us now take a look at the areas in which we are to tend to the faithfulness, in other words, to be faithful with those things God has entrusted with. Each one of us has been entrusted with something, in Arabic it is one and the same word. For example, we say, “I want to leave ‘a faith’ with you,” meaning that we want to leave something valuable in your care, whether it be money or important documents, or whatever it may be. And how does one take care of something entrusted to them? They watch over it, protect it, guard it; they do not add to nor take away anything from it, they simply take care of it. And this is what is meant by “tending the faith” or “cultivating [the] faithfulness.”
This practice may be an outdated example, but when one of our young people would travel for work outside Egypt, it was not an easy matter to open a foreign bank account. So they would wrap their monetary earnings in cloth or paper and give them to someone they trust, asking them, “Would you keep this faith in trust for me?” And this is applicable in every area of our lives, as I will show you now.
1-Your faithfulness toward God
The first area you can practice and demonstrate your faithfulness is toward God. Both Joshua son of Nun and the prophet Samuel talked about this. Joshua said, “Fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth” (Josh 24:14), and Samuel said, “Fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart” (1 Sam 12:24).
We get the word “faith” from the word “faithfulness.” We also refer to our Faith (our Orthodox Teaching, beliefs, Doctrine, and so on), which we received from our fathers and the fathers before them, and which we hand down to our children, as “the Faith,” that is, it is a trust we are entrusted with and we are to be faithful in passing along this same Faith, [just as we received it.] Faithfulness with the faith.
We hear about the prophet Daniel; he was faithful and no sin or fault was found in him, and this despite his being in exile and living in a foreign land. Daniel refused to hide his Faith and confessed it, he was thrown in the den of lions, he refused to worship idols, and he refused to eat from the king’s delicacies.
And when the king who loved Daniel came to check on him in the lions’ den, even though it was he who had thrown Daniel in the lions’ den, Daniel said, “My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions” (Dan 6:22). And we discover that God did indeed send His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. [This is the faithfulness of God demonstrated toward] a person who is faithful to God.
We also saw faithfulness toward God through those who were martyred in Libya just a few years ago, how they were faithful to their faith even while in a foreign land and how God used their martyrdom as a form of evangelism for the Name of Christ and for the Coptic Church, on a global level. They had not considered all of this; they had only intended to be faithful, but their faithfulness produced much fruitage.
And on the occasion of this season of the Feast of Nayrouz, which celebrates the Martyrs, we hear of the martyr St. Polycarpus, Bishop of Izmir in Turkey, and how at the age of 86 they asked him to deny Christ and worship idols. And he made what is now a very well-known statement: “86 years have I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” They released him to the beasts and the people took some of his remains and preserved them in cloth, considering them to be precious treasures and building churches upon them, and we remember him to this day. And so St. Polycarpus, whose name means “full of fruit,” his life and memory and sainthood continue to live with us to this day. A person’s faithfulness.
Also, a person who is faithful to God does not take sin lightly, but as soon as he notices a wrong thought or wrong thinking, he quickly puts an end to it and does not get carried away with it, nor does he negotiate or reason with the thought back and forth in order that he not fall into any sin or error. This reminds us of righteous Joseph when he said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen 39:9). And you also can use this statement when you are being confronted with any situation that is sinful or has potential to cause you to sin.
2-Your faithfulness toward yourself
First and foremost we are to be faithful toward God, but how do we do that? We do that by being faithful with and toward ourselves. How do we do this? We do this by keeping our senses pure [and untainted]. For example, your eyes must be faithful, your ears, your hands, your emotions; all these must be faithful. Do not allow your eyes to look at something wrong, do not even let in any negative images. Also, the eyes must respect the privacy of others. As for the ear, the ear must refuse any words that are the telling of secrets, or the ratting out of others to any form of authority, or gossiping about others, or of the spreading of rumors; if any of these are done, then you have broken the commandment of “keeping the faithfulness.”
This also applies to your tongue; your tongue (mouth) must be pure, a tongue that prays, a tongue that praises, a tongue that sings and gives thanks, a tongue that does not lie, does not swear, but it is a pure and upright tongue.
You must also be faithful with your physical health, yes, because you may be exposing yourself to certain [practices or] situations that may be negatively impacting your health, and this is a lack of faithfulness. For example, certain drinks you drink, substances you use, or habits you practice, and no need to get into details, but a person must be faithful with their physical health. Do not harm or hurt what has been entrusted to you.
And the Commandment about this is very serious, look at what it says in 1 Corinthians, “Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple” (1 Cor 3:16-17, NKJV, NIV) – and the temple he is talking about here is the temple of your body and the temple of your soul, and so to keep the faithfulness also applies to being faithful toward your very self, both physically and inwardly.
3-Your faithfulness toward your family
The third area in which we are to be faithful is toward our family. Every time we conduct a holy matrimony ceremony we are telling him (the groom) to be faithful with her, and her (the bride) to be faithful with him. And of course we all know the opposite of the word “faithfulness,” the word “unfaithfulness” – a very painful word to even hear.
And so we are to guard our faithfulness toward our families, during the period of engagement, and in our marriages, as it is written, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Gen 2:24, cf. Mk 10:8). This means that each has become responsible for the other. Yes, you are now responsible for him or for her, so if we have any conflicts arise between us, we are not to take them into the next day, [but to settle them today, before going to sleep.]
We must also learn to understand one another, even if that takes perseverance, because both of you had one day and him had one day agreed to enter into this relationship; it was your choosing. So protect the choice that you have made and always try to make your marriage or your relationship a success.
And when it comes to family, we are to be faithful toward our children as well as toward our elders, that is, the homes we were brought up in: “Honor your father and your mother” (Exo 20:12). And because one of the applications of faithfulness and lessons of wisdom is to guard what has been entrusted to you, we are to apply this faithfulness to everything that the Lord has given us.
When the Lord gave you children, He gave them to you as a trust; when He gave you money, He gave it to you as a trust; when He gave you skills and talents, He gave them to you as a trust, and so be alert and careful to never forget the blessings and gifts that God has given you. It would be a very good thing if we make Joshua son of Nun’s statement the motto of our home: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh 24:15). “My house” meaning “my family”; that my family would worship the Lord, that we would have a relationship with the Lord and that we would be careful to be faithful in our relationship with God.
This third application of faithfulness, that of the family, is such an important one that I feel it can be talked about much more, because building a home or a family on the right precepts is a very important matter and it is what makes a home fruitful and blessed and to have the blessing [of God] descend upon it.
4-Your faithfulness toward your studies or your work
When it comes to a student, you are to be very faithful with your studying and completing of assignments and homework, also, you are to be honest and refuse any form of cheating or dishonesty, and to trust that this faithfulness is sufficient to bring you success. Also, if as a student one is not faithful and honest, do you think that after he graduates and begins to work that he will be an honest doctor, or an honest engineer, or an honest teacher or accountant, or honest in any other work or job? It’s not possible, not possible.
As the folk proverb says, “The house of a cheater never rises high,” and this is true even with physical buildings; we see that when builders “cheat” with building materials, the structures they build cannot stand and they eventually fall.
Also faithfulness when it comes to our work or at our jobs. We hear of the faithfulness of Nehemiah (rebuilding the wall), Queen Vashti (to not act out of integrity when the king asked her to come before the people in order to display her beauty before them – Esther 1:11), and Ruth’s faithfulness (toward Naomi).
And faithfulness at work begins with the smallest of things, for example, being on time; also in working while at work rather than doing any other activities; also doing the work well and with care; also protecting the privacy of the work or place of employment, and many other examples.
A very nice story shares that a news reporter was once visiting an airplane factory – airplanes! so it was huge. And over there in a corner was an employee separating and stacking very small nails, but when the reporter asked him what he was doing he said, “I’m helping build airplanes,” not, “I’m sorting nails.” And so no matter how small the work may seem, it is part of a bigger work, and when you do a small job with honesty and you do it right, the next step in the process will also be successful, and so on and so forth, all the way until an entire airplane is constructed rightly and is safe for use.
When a person is cheating in the production of foods or the production of pharmaceuticals or in the administration of law, they are ultimately causing harm to others. The importance of being honest in one’s work extends to every type of work and field, whether a teacher in a school, an engineer at a firm, a doctor in his clinic, intellectual honesty – to not steal the ideas, publications, or work of others, because we do even hear about people cheating by stealing master’s or doctoral thesis’s from others. Where is the honesty? And will you really even be happy with that kind of a success?
He says, “1Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 2For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb,” so if you are dishonest, will it truly bring you happiness? Will you be happy for a couple of years, or will you be happy because your reputation will look good before others for a few years? But what will the ultimate end of it all be? It will be a dark and painful end.
Another area for us to be faithful in when it comes to work is in the area of electronic communication, as we have today. For example, it is a great sin for you to be recording a conversation or a call you are having with someone without their knowledge. This is a sin. Do not dare think that this is clever or that you are getting away with something; it is a sin, and more sins will follow when you broadcast or spread the news about what you have recorded, and so on.
Also, being faithful and honest will protect you from even getting involved in much evil, enmity, and troubles in all your relationships, whether at work, at school, or in life in general, and so cultivate faithfulness or guard what has been entrusted to you. This is a commandment, a simple commandment, but as to its applications and dimensions, that is what we are discussing here today; the very far-reaching applications of faithfulness.
We hear about our forefather Jacob, who remained faithful to his uncle Laban, despite the fact that his uncle took advantage of him, putting him to all kinds of work and changing his wage several times. Jacob [was so faithful and honest that he] would compensate his uncle Laban for any flock that had gone missing even if it had been devoured by another animal, despite that this was customarily the responsibility of the owner of the flock. Jacob did this because he was an honest person, a faithful person.
5-Your faithfulness in service ministry
The fifth area where your faithfulness can be applied or made apparent is in your service, and this is shown very clearly in the 10th Chapter of the Gospel of St. John, the chapter we call “the chapter of the Good Shepherd,” which we always read when we remember or commemorate the lives and departures of our priest fathers.
In this chapter he contrasts the difference between the shepherd and the hired hand – who is also referred to as “thieves and robbers” (Jn 10:1) – and he talks about how a shepherd’s faithfulness is demonstrated in that he knows his sheep and his sheep know him.
Long time ago, several shepherds would take their sheep into a single pen or sheepfold to spend the night. These were very large sheepfolds and took in many sheep, and so to call his own sheep to him the next morning, each shepherd would stand at the gate and give a very particular whistle. When his sheep would hear it, they would recognize their shepherd’s voice and come to the gate in order to exit. The next shepherd would give his whistle and his sheep would come forth, and so on.
The sheep would never get confused and follow the wrong voice – “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (Jn 10:27). This is the picture of a faithful shepherd. Your faithfulness as a shepherd – whether you are a shepherd of a small Sunday School class or of a large congregation – you are to care for your people; your faithfulness is important.
Remember Eli the priest? He was not faithful in bringing up his children aright, and here is what it tells us about the time when the voice of the Lord came to him because he had neglected disciplining his children, “I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever” (1 Sam 2:35), and then the Lord chose Samuel. And so as a Church-servant, you are not only responsible for the people you serve in Church, but you are [also responsible and] to be faithful when it comes to serving your family and those of your household.
In one of the Apostle Paul’s beautiful statements he says, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?” (2 Cor 11:29). Another time, St. Paul had remained with the priests of the Church of Ephesus, teaching them and praying for them with tears: “I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers” (Eph 1:16), and so [as their minister, he] taught them with words, but he also prayed for them.
A person who is faithful in their service ministry is also careful to keep the Teaching pure, free from impurities. Oftentimes a person will become enamored with other writings and teachings, and so on, but there is another person who is careful to preserve the Teaching. This does not mean that we are to just keep repeating the same words over and over again, but rather, it means that we use modern and contemporary means and tools to assist us in communicating the Teaching to others in a way that can help them better understand.
St. Athanasios the apostolic used philosophy when he presented his lectures on Divinity, why? Because philosophy was predominant in his day and age, and so he would use philosophical processes in his teachings, and this is why they sometimes refer to him as “the philosopher.” Same with St. Paul the Apostle. And so despite the fact both of them lived and practiced the true Teaching and Doctrine, yet they used various tools to teach and communicate the Teaching with greater clarity.
6-Your faithfulness with money (material things)
A sixth area we can practice faithfulness is in the area of money. The Lord gives us money to help us live our lives, but you are to be faithful in how you use this money, how you direct it, that you maintain an attitude toward it that it is a means and not an end or a goal, and that with this money you can serve every person.
The Book tells us, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Mt 6:19-20 NKJV, NIV), and, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Mt 19:21). Do not let money control you. Money is good and we use it to help us in our lives, in our churches, to go to school, to conduct our work, and so on, but do not let money control you and do not love it to the point where it becomes a snare to you and causing you to end up falling. The Commandment says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim 6:10), and so we use money, but we are not to love money.
And God gives some people more money than others in order to stir and move the spirit of mercy and gratitude – mercy in the hearts of the givers, and gratitude in the hearts of the receivers – and in this way, humans are enabled to practice their very humanity.
It is very important for a person to be faithful with money because as it says, “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Lk 16:11). If you are not faithful over what belongs to others, how will you be trusted/given what is yours? And so we are to be faithful; even with a little bit of pocket money, faithfulness is very important.
I remember how parents would give their little children their pocket money on Thursdays. Why Thursdays? Because that was the day for Sunday School, and in this way a child would learn to give their offerings from their pocket money on the same day, right away, and this was both faithfulness on the part of the parents to teach their children [good principles], and faithfulness to use money in the right way.
Furthermore, your faithfulness with money translates into your faithfulness within your community; that you sense the needs of others and have compassion upon them.
7-Your faithfulness with time
The seventh area we practice faithfulness is in how we use our time. This is the point I want to conclude with because it is the one gift that God gives to us all equally, in the same amount. When it comes to money, I can have 10 pennies and you may only have one, that is possible, but when it comes to time, both you and I are given the exact same amount of it every day – 24 hours, regardless of how our lives or responsibilities may differ.
Your faithfulness with time [centers on this one question]: how will you utilize the 24 hours you are given daily in a good way? One person wastes them sleeping, another wastes them on the Internet, another wastes them in laziness, another uses them to work, another to worship, another to exercise, another to study – so many ways to use the hours of the day, and so how will you distribute your utilization of time?
And without a doubt, a person who is faithful in their use of time will be successful, but a person who just wastes their time aimlessly will not succeed. And while it is a very important thing for you to enjoy times of leisure, like going on a nice outing or on a summer vacation and so on, but even then, it is very important that you spend that time faithfully and to not let the freedom that the Lord has given you become an occasion for you to waste your time meaninglessly or in worthless or fruitless ways.
Conclusion & Benediction
The conclusion is this: if you want to cultivate faithfulness (if you want to guard what has been entrusted to you), place the fear of God before you at all times. Do you want to cultivate faithfulness? Be careful to lovingly serve all those around you. Do you want to cultivate faithfulness? Then please, be a person who is disciplined and accurate, as the Book tells us, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:15-16). And here we see that ignorance and wisdom are not dependent upon [one’s] knowledge, but they are dependent upon one’s usage of time.
“Be very careful, then, how you live.” In Arabic, the word ‘carefully’ here has the same root as the word ‘minute,’ and so we are to live carefully in general, but also watching carefully over every minute; your time is accounted for minute by minute. “Not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time.” Redeem the time in the same way that Christ offered redemption on the cross, why? “Because the days are evil,” because you are here today but tomorrow? Tomorrow still belongs to the Lord and I do not have any control over it.
And the very best verse to conclude with is, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10).
May God grant us to learn this lesson, the fourth wisdom lesson from Psalm 37, that you cultivate faithfulness, that you guard what has been entrusted to you in your life, every day; this is a very important lesson. To our God be all the glory and honor, from now and forevermore. Amen.
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