And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. - James 1:4
Welcome to this week’s devotional. I am thrilled to be a guest writer and to be able to share a short word of encouragement that God has laid on my heart, which I hope would be a blessing to you. Hence our title for today is called Celebrating Consistency.
In our current world today, one of the rarest character traits we hardly see is Consistency. According to the Cambridge English dictionary, the word consistency is described as the state or condition of always happening or behaving in the same way. Being consistent in today’s world means sticking it out and staying steadfast as the above scripture pointed. In our world today we hardly see promoters of consistency. When things (a job for example) gets hard or stale, our minds automatically shift on to getting something else instead of finding ways to work current situation out.
Unfortunately, being a Christian, does not exclude you or me from having the same attitude where which we fold at the quickest sign of adversity. More often what we see is inconsistency- where there is a difference between our beliefs and our behavior.
One of the best examples in the Bible that accurately displayed consistency is Daniel. In Daniel 6:10- “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.”
The situation that Daniel found himself in involved enough stress and chaos for him to abandon his consistency in order to get comfort. But instead he “prayed and gave thanks” as he had done PREVIOUSLY. He never stopped or slowed down in his relationship with God.
The same can be said for some of the situations that we might find ourselves in. Being consistent will involve a conscious decision to constantly remain committed; especially in our walk with Christ. It is important to understand that consistency is a daily feat that we have to work on attaining every day. It’s not an attribute we attain, rather a progression we work towards. More reason why we need to constantly ask for his help in order to develop a godly resolve to stay consistent. Because the moment we stop being consistent, we start to slip. I’ll remind you of Peter’s account of him trying to walk on water. All the while he tried to walk whilst his eyes were fixed on Christ, he was good.
The moment he took his eyes off Christ and placed his focus on what was happening around him, he started to sink. The same can be said for our lives hence why our focus should always be on the constant one – Christ.
Before closing I’ll leave with one of my favorite scriptures found in 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.” Staying consistent is quite hard, but always remember Nothing Good Comes Easy.
Have a blessed week.
Image Credit: Maria Teneva
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