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And He Shall Be Called…"The Amen" May 28, 2007

Posted by Josh in And He Shall Be Called....
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Wow, it’s hard to believe that this is my first post in the entire month of May! Let me tell you guys a little bit about what this month has been like:

  • May 3-5th – worked 13-hour days
  • 6th – Spent all day doing errands, went to church
  • 7th – 11th – Spent all week commuting to Greenville for training
  • 12th – Friend’s birthday lunch, did errands, went dancing
  • 13th – Mother’s Day! Can’t remember what I did, since Mum was out of town
  • 14th – 16th – Worked 13-hour days
  • 17th – Dr’s appointment, helped friends move, younger brother’s graduation, went dancing
  • 18th – Spent all day buying camping gear and getting ready for my awesome camping trip
  • 19th – 20th – Awesome camping trip, rolled out at 5:30 AM on the 20th so we could get back in time for church; Younger brother’s graduation party at 5, family in town so visited with them afterwards
  • 21st – 23rd – Family in town, spent quite a bit of time with them, plus two small study groups, errands, etc.
  • 24th – 26th – Worked 13-hour days
  • 27th – Went hiking, went to cookout at church, hung out with friends
  • 28th – Back at work! But it’s a holiday so it’s slow, so now I’m writing this post!

Ok, so now let me tell you guys why I shared all of that; there really is a method to my madness!

The point is, there’s a lot going on in my life, just like there’s a lot going on in everyone’s life. Now I absolutely love having a busy life; God has blessed me with so many wonderful friends and with so much to do…but sometimes it can be hard to remain faithful to all of the various commitments that I have. Sometimes it’s hard to find time for all of the things that I need to do. Sometimes it’s really easy to overbook myself and schedule one thing too many, and then I find myself having to back out on something that I’ve promised a friend that I would do.

I don’t know about you, but I feel horrible when that happens. I feel horrible when I’ve promised someone that I’ll do something and then I find that I’m unable to follow through with it. I try my best to accomplish everything that I’ve committed to, but sometimes it’s really hard.

I think we’ve all experienced those times when we’re unable to keep a commitment to a friend, and I also think that we’ve all experienced times when we’ve been let down by a friend, a parent, or a loved one. One of the worst feelings in the world is to have someone who should care for us–like a parent, a husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend–let us down. I think we’ve all experienced that pain.

Here’s the good news, though: Jesus never does that!

Now I know that might sound a little bit corny, but allow me to explain.

In my last post I said that I was studying the Names of Christ this summer, and I also said that the first Name that I am studying is “The Amen.” Jesus called Himself “the Amen” in Rev. 3:14, which says:

Rev 3:14 CEV
(14) This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: I am the one called Amen! I am the faithful and true witness and the source of God’s creation. Listen to what I say.

Most of us only think of the word “Amen” when we finish saying a prayer. You know, “God bless this food, don’t let it kill me, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.” We think of the word “amen” as something that we say at the end of a prayer, but most people don’t really know what the word means.

The King James dictionary says that the word “amen” means “faithful, true, certain” [1]. One Greek dictionary defines it as “firm, steady, trustworthy” [2]. Now read Rev. 3:14 again with the definition of the word “amen” substituted:

Rev 3:14 CEV
(14) This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: I am the one called faithful, true, certain, firm, steady, and trustworthy! I am the faithful and true witness and the source of God’s creation. Listen to what I say.

I don’t know about you, but when I read the Scripture with the definition substituted I find that the verse takes on a whole new meaning.

You see, it is so hard to find people today who are trustworthy. It is so hard to be trustworthy ourselves! We have all let down those who we care about, and we have all been let down by those we care about. But Jesus took the words “faithful, true, certain; firm, steady, trustworthy,” and He applied them to Himself as a proper Name.

You see, faithfulness is not just something that Jesus does, faithfulness is what He Is!

I find this concept so overwhelming! In a world where unfaithfulness abounds–in a world where supposedly reputable news stations run stories examining whether or not Americans are a bit strange when they feel guilty for cheating on their spouses [3]; where people are consumed with what others can do for them, instead of what they can do for others; in a world where parents abandon children and children abandon parents–it’s hard to imagine someone who is the epitome of faithfulness. It’s hard to imagine someone who is not only faithful, but someone who incarnates faithfulness.

Yet that is exactly what Jesus claims to do.

Faithfulness is not just what He does, faithfulness is what He Is.

Even more beautiful is the fact that God’s faithfulness to us does not depend on our faithfulness to Him. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that Christians can just go out and do whatever we want. I do believe that the proof of Christianity is found in our lifestyle (cf. Mat. 7:15-23; Gal. 5:17-26), but I also believe that all of us make mistakes. Every one of us slips up and falls. The only perfect person to ever walk the face of this planet was Jesus. Every one before Him and since Him has blown it. The awesome thing, though, is that Jesus promises to remain faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him! Check this Scripture out:

2Ti 2:11-13 CEV
(11) Here is a true message: “If we died with Christ, we will live with him.
(12) If we don’t give up, we will rule with him. If we deny that we know him, he will deny that he knows us.
(13) If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful. Christ cannot deny who he is.”

Again, I’m not saying that we can just all go do whatever we want and still be saved. What I am saying is that if a person slips up and falls then Christ is still there for them. It doesn’t matter how many times a person falls, and it doesn’t matter how many times they fail. All that matters is that they never give up. 

For there is truly nothing that can separate us from the arms of our Father.

Scriptures for additional reading:

References:

  1. King James Dictionary
  2. “G281”, The Complete Word Study Dictionary
  3. “French Men Don’t Get Caught”. MSN, “Lifestyle: Men”. <http://men.msn.com/articlebl.aspx?cp-documentid=4096355>. Accessed 5-28-2007.