Every business has their standard operating procedures – a manual (or manuals) of how things are supposed to work. Of course, things don’t always work like they are supposed to. Leadership is primarily about dealing with the unexpected, navigating through both the small and large crises. The standard operating procedures are great if everything stayed the same, but things rarely do.
God, however, has promised to always stay the same, and as Romans 3:3-4a reminds us we can trust in His faithfulness. Even when those who call themselves Christians aren’t faithful, we can have confidence that we serve a God who is. The verses state:
“What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar,”
In other words, God’s standard operating procedure is to be faithful. Unlike an organization, because He never changes, He always acts in keeping with that principle. Other Christians may disappoint us, may seem untrustworthy, and may fail, but God never will. He will always be true; He will always be worthy of our trust.
This is an important reminder. So often in life when the unexpected happens we are tempted to look to others for their insight and perspective. However, the perspective of humans change. God’s perspective, as delineated in His Word, remains constant. Before we turn to others, before we look to the fickle opinions of man, we need to look at what God says about the matter. We also need to filter the words of others through His perspective – trusting that the God Who is always faithful is infinitely more reliable than people who sometimes fail. This doesn’t mean that we try to always “go it alone” – the Body of Christ is a wonderful gift that God has given us to help us faithfully journey through this life. But it does mean that I rely on God more than I rely on anybody else. It means that His eternal opinion always trumps the temporary opinion of man. It means that the One who is constantly faithful can be trusted even if no one else can.
And if someone turns to me in their moment of crisis, I need to point them to the One Who’s standard operating procedures are to be trustworthy, faithful and true. His Word, and not mine, will prove reliable in the end.
(The title of this post was inspired by a comment from someone at church. Unfortunately, I did not note the name of the person who made the comment. If it was you, my apologies, and thank you.)