I understand that not all who read this article attended the Youth Camp in July. If you’re reading these truths for the first time, that’s good. May the Lord bless them to your heart. Repetition is the way for God’s people to learn His truth. I pray that this will be a helpful reminder and perhaps stir you up to keep on doing what you had intended to do. (Parents: I’m sure you asked your children what they learned at camp! Well, you can read and see if you were told what you ought to have been told!)
Our theme for the camp Bible studies was: “Be faithful, as God is faithful.” When God saves a sinner, He begins the transformative process of conforming them to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). The saved soul is a new creature in Christ and that work of creation is to restore the image of God. Therefore, when we examine the attributes of God, we are studying characteristics that should increasingly be seen in the life of the child of God.
God’s faithfulness comes under the theological category of His truth. God is faithful, He is true in all that He does and says. In other words, God is reliable. He can be trusted in every word that He utters (“Thy word is truth” John 17:17) and He can be trusted to do everything that He promises to do. God is the faithful God that keeps covenant and mercy (Deuteronomy 7:9). Or as Paul describes it: “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24). God’s reliability is gloriously displayed in the gospel as Christ comes into the world according to the promise of God and forgives our sins according to His just faithfulness. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
In light of God’s attribute of faithfulness, we should examine ourselves as to whether or not we are reliable in being what God would have us to be. By God’s grace, believers should be increasingly reliable in the various areas of their responsibilities. Are we dependable in our walk with God? Are we faithful in the Word and in prayer and in the pursuit of holiness? “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us…” (Ephesians 5:1-2).
Young person, as a child of God, you have obligations as a son or daughter in the home. Are you dependable in honoring your father and mother? I’m sure you all remember the exhortation of Rev. Thomassian that God expects us to obey our superiors cheerfully, immediately, and completely. We are also given stewardship towards our neighbors. As we promise to serve God, we are promising, in dependence upon Him, to love our neighbor as ourselves. It’s always sobering to ask ourselves: have I been reliable in praying for the souls of my neighbors and in pointing them to Christ?
Let me drive home one area that young people often don’t consider: faithfulness in the life of the church. When we are saved, we are united to Christ and become members of His body, the church. The church has a local manifestation and God is looking for “good and faithful servants” in the realm of church life. It is a privilege to be saved and to be brought into the company of the redeemed. We don’t need to wait until we’re 18 or 21 to be involved in faithful service of the Lord.
Young people, I urge you to be faithfully active in the worship of God, “teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16.) Be faithfully active in the prayer meetings, praying for one another. “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him” (Acts 12:5.)
Also, be involved in witnessing for Christ: “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). Be faithful in encouraging others, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another…” (Hebrews 10:25).
Camp has come and gone for another year. Every year, camp passes away, but the Word of God abides forever. Often young people and the staff leave camp with a renewed determination to serve God. We can only do this in God’s strength, so having made our vows, let us be faithful and reliable in our words and in our ways.