Mutual Faithfulness Between God and Man

This has been going on for years now. I love Him; I really do. But every time I make the promise to love Him even more, I fail miserably by making the same mistake again. I cheated on Him so many times, yet He allows me to come back to Him every time. He allows me into His presence and reassures me that He is not angry, all He needs is for me to ask for forgiveness. He’s so wonderful, but that does not seem to hold me back. I think by now you can guess who I cheated on. I cheated on God.

“What?! You cheated on God?” That’s right. I said it. I cheated on God. “But, how can you cheat on God?” Easy. I have a relationship with Him and occasionally step outside into the world and do things outside of His will. That’s how you cheat on God. I must admit that I never saw it that way. I never saw disobeying God as cheating on Him. I mean, I knew I was being unfaithful, but to be called a cheater.. That was something I never expected. During Bible study, however, I came across the following verse that opened my eyes: “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4, NLT). I don’t know about you, but I get tempted daily to go and hang out with the world, saying and doing things I should not be saying and doing.

“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.” (1 John 2:15 NLT)

I remember back in the day when I would go outside with my friends. As soon as a new cool kid came, some kids would neglect their old friends, just to hang out with someone they did not know. Hanging out with the old got boring and the new seemed so exciting. Isn’t it the same now? The world is that cool kid. The world brings something new to the table; I get to neglect all the rules and laws of the Word, the will of God. And not once do I think about how God feels when this happens. As Christians, I believe that sometimes we fail to realize that our relationship with God is real. We fail to realize that our relationship with God is valuable, and even when you don’t value it, He still values it. God is passionate about us. “They say that God is passionate that the spirit He has placed within us should be faithful to Him” (James 4:5b, NLT). I finally have someone who is passionate about me, who loves me regardless of what I do, and I repay Him by cheating. That ain’t right! Why do I do this? Why do we do this?!

Us ladies, we are emotional beings. When we love, we love hard. When we care, we care a lot. Whatever feeling we may have, we go deep into it. That’s probably why it is easier for us to get carried away by the things of this world; we can put all our energy in things such as relationships, opinions, trends et cetera. Our focus on these things becomes so large that we forget our most important relationship. Romans 12:2 tells us to not be conformed to the things of this world. And, yes, this is easier said than done. But did you know that all relationships require effort? We need to work hard for our relationships to be good. We need to work hard for our relationships to succeed. We seem to understand this truth in regard to our family members, friends, partners, or spouse. But when it comes to God, we feel like it’s okay to neglect Him. He’ll forgive us anyway, right?

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7, NLT)

True. Since we serve a merciful God, He will continue to forgive us. But let us do better. Let us build the most important relationship we have. The world is going to use us and spit us out whenever it wants to. God will love us forever, protect us, guide us, and so much more. What else can we ask for? I know that sometimes we get caught up by the things of the world, but let us be intentional in making time for God. Let us put that love, that effort, that time we put into relationship with others, into our relationship with God as well. The world has nothing to offer us, God does. Let us stop stepping out on Him. Who wants to be labeled as a cheater? I know I don’t.

I’d like to challenge us to be as faithful to God as He is to us. He deserves it.

God bless,
Ruth Osei
Co-founder of The Purpose Wife