Not Even A Hint of Inconsistency

When was the last time you started a book and finished it? When was the last time you finished your fitness plan? Or better yet when was the last time you finished your bible reading plan? If we are honest, we all know that one person who starts things but never finishes, my goal in the above questions was that you would look no further than yourself to find that person. I know I am one of them, I have started a million things that I have never been faithful to finish; books, fitness plans, bible reading plans, friendships, businesses and various projects. I am literally the most inconsistent person I know (working on it though 🙂 ).

This past week I came across James 1:17 in the Phillips translation, “But every good endowment that we possess and every complete gift that we have received must come from above, from the Father of all lights, with whom there is never the slightest variation or shadow of inconsistency”. Those words “or shadow or inconsistency” hit me hard, it made reflect on God’s faithfulness especially in light of my own consistencies which as I said are many.

The past few months haven’t been the easiest for me, having different things I have had to wrestle with both in my walk and in the doctrines/theology that shapes my walk. In general, this year God has used different situations in my life to humble me and make me trust him more, He has in different ways revealed my self-righteousness and sometimes intellectual pride which has been a very humbling thing to go through.

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I am not ‘there’ yet,  but one thing that I have learnt through the course of my walk with Christ is God’s consistency if my perseverance in the faith was ever up to me, I would have failed miserably. But praise be to the Lord ‘in whom there is never the slightest variation or shadow of inconsistency’ and who is faithful to finish the work of salvation because he is the author and finisher of my faith.

I am learning to trust in God’s consistency to carry me through rather than trusting in my own effort and discipline, because I know I suck in that department. But I also know that because of His sanctifying work, I won’t suck forever, there will be a time when I suck less (not Not-Suck entirely).

This does not mean however that I just have to sit and do nothing to improve my self-discipline, after all “a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” (Proverb 25:28). And Paul exhorts us in 1 Tim 4:7 “….train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come”. God has given us the “means” of grace (not as way of earning grace) but as a pathway for us to grow in Holiness. Our growth in being consistent in our pursuit of God will come through disciplining (literally training) ourselves in reading God’s word, prayer and fellowship (church especially).

Let us not be discouraged in our own inconsistencies, but look up to our father  in whom there is no shadow of inconsistency through our Lord Jesus Christ who is the founder and perfecter of our faith, and by the Holy Spirit He WILL be faithful to bring his work in us to completion.

“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.”- T. Chisholm

Your Sister In Christ,

Dee.

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