Faithfulness

Tullian Tchividjian is big news this week. In case you are unfamiliar he is the grandson of world renown evangelist Billy Graham. He is also well known in Evangelical circles as the pastor of a thriving megachurch, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida. The founder of the church, D. James Kennedy was pastor from the founding in 1960 until his death in 2007. Dr. Kennedy was well known for his involvement in politics and he leaned quite heavily to the right.

Tullian Tchividjian has stayed away from politics during his short tenure at Coral Ridge but has been a rising start in the Evangelical publishing world. He has put out multiple books that have proved very popular, published multiple articles on well known Christian blogs, conducted radio interviews and been a popular conference speaker.  And he recently confessed to cheating on his wife and thus disqualifying himself from being a minister so he resigned.  

But this little post is not about Tullian, and in case your wondering, and I know you are, it's pronounced “cha-vi-jin”. This post is about the idea of faithfulness. Have you, have you ever really, ever really ever been faithful to anything, anyone, any idea, or any concept of any kind for any length of time?

Think about it before you answer. And let's preclude what your being faithful to right now, at this moment. Let's dredge the lake and take a look see.

Relationships? Oh you're married? Ever have a boyfriend/girlfriend? So you've never been faithful to that relationship have you? Let's not jump to conclusions and say it's bad or good. Is it a reality? Sit with that for a moment.

What about….oh let's pick a big one, what about your faith? Have you always been faithful to it? Is it important that you are? Has your faith ever become lost or unfruitful? Have you ever cheated your faith by considering the idea of abandoning it?

I suppose one might say that relationships and faith are not static things but are nuanced and subject to change, like the ebb and flow of a river. Increasing at times to a roar and rush of rapid tides and at other times barely a trickle over some mossy rocks. But then we must ask ourselves how closely are we measuring this thing called faithfulness and how much leeway are we giving?

I don't think there is any doubt that we frown on a man, never mind a pastor, cheating on his wife (or the fact that she reportedly cheated on him initially). We decry the lack of faithfulness. But perhaps we should pull the log out before we examine the speck. Perhaps we should take a peek through our own list of dreams and responsibilities and see if we have done them their due service.

“Everything is going to be ok”

How do you know?

“I don't but it just helps sometimes to say it.” –--Jermaine Clement, People, Places, Things.