A feature which is found in the vast majority of people, even among the best, is that they tend to have limits, beyond which their faithfulness does not go, or does not continue. In other words, even the best of us tend only to be …
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You can never afford to become complacent or to cut corners as you get older
On a similar theme, there is a temptation, as you get older, to become casual and to assume that you have now learned how to handle pressures and temptations. You may then begin to loosen your standards and to think that it is safe for …
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One of the hardest things to cope with is success. Few people’s faithfulness can survive that
We all know that failure and difficulty are a challenge. However, as we have seen above, in terms of maintaining our faithfulness, success is a much harder test. When a person fails, or suffers, the obvious thing to do is to turn to God for …
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Some people become unfaithful after they lose their mentor’s influence. They can’t keep up their faithfulness on their own
One of the reasons why faithful, obedient, God-fearing people sometimes become unfaithful, and let God down in later life, is that they began with the influence and guidance of a godly mentor, but then could not keep up that faithfulness on their own, without that …
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The faithfulness and unfaithfulness of King Jehu
Next we can look at the life of King Jehu of Israel (i.e. the Northern Kingdom). He had the chance to become the one and only good King that the Northern Kingdom ever had. He began well and showed remarkable zeal and enthusiasm to obey …
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Before we criticise King Asa, we need to ask whether we are any more faithful than he was
It is easy to be critical of King Asa, but actually the tests of his faith that he faced in the later years of his long reign were very difficult. It is surprisingly hard to remain faithful for long periods of time and to keep …
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Consider also the life of King Asa of Judah. He began well but in his later years he did not maintain the faithfulness with which he began.
One reads of very many bad kings of Judah, and even more so in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. But it is perhaps even sadder to read of kings who began well but who did not keep it up. They failed or let themselves down …
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Examples of biblical characters who were faithful to begin with, but then compromised and became unfaithful later in life
We have already seen, in earlier chapters, some examples of characters in the Bible who began well but then let God down and became unfaithful later in life. These accounts are in the Bible to bring home to us the danger that we ourselves are …
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The fear of the LORD helps you to remain faithful
The Bible regularly tells us to “fear the Lord”. It is a major theme and a very important issue. Here is an example. Joshua is speaking to the Israelites as they were about to enter the Promised Land: 14“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve …
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Further advice on how we can become more faithful
If you will fear the Lord and serve him and hearken to his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well; 1 …
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