A Prayer for Faithfulness

Psalm 26.3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.

As much as I love taking karate with my boys, there are many days when I want to quit.

I grow weary of picking them up after school and listening to them whine about going straight to practice.

I get tired of keeping track of uniforms and weapons.

Goodness, some days I don't even want to show up for practice.

But I remain faithful to the commitment we made.

If I quit, my kids would probably quit too, and that wouldn't be good.

I know the friends and community found at Christian Karate Academy are needed during this season of life for me and my sons.

The discipline, commitment, and practice learned through karate provide a good foundation for the rest of their lives.

Just the energy they get to release in constructive ways is advantageous.

Sometimes faithfulness can be hard to understand.

The Hebrew word for faithfulness in the Psalms is emunah, and it means firmness, fidelity, steadfastness, steadiness.

It means that even when something is hard, even when we don't want to, we do not waver, we stay the course.

Don't get me wrong, every activity we join isn't meant to be a long-term commitment.

My boys did t-ball for a few years, but when they wanted to try karate the next season, we said okay.

Teaching our kids to stick to commitments they have made and stay faithful is a valuable lesson.

It is a good foundation for learning to stay faithful to God.

Over and over again in the Old Testament, we're told of God's steadfast love and faithfulness.

We see these aspects of the Lord demonstrated in the Old Testament, but they really come alive in Jesus.

Jesus is a tangible reminder of God's faithfulness to his promise to David.

Despite hundreds of years of unfaithfulness on the part of Israel, God remained faithful, giving them second chances, and finally fulfilled his promise to give David a descendant who would reign forever.

It is God's faithfulness that prompts our own.

Staying faithful to God and His ways can be so hard for our kids, especially in the face of everything that goes on at school and online.

For years, the scripture has given me hope.

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.