8.12.2026 - Jody Duncan

August 12, 2026

2 Timothy 2:11-13

God give us his faithfulness

The gist of these words from the Apostle Paul to his protégé Timothy is that God remains who he is, regardless of who we are. It is the final line in the scripture’s four-part hymn:

Part 1 says that if we die with him, we shall live with him.

Part 2 states that enduring with him means reigning with him.

Part 3 says that denying him means we shall be denied by him.

Part 4 says that even if we are unfaithful to God he will remain faithful to us because that is his nature, and God cannot go against his own nature.

It may be difficult for us to grasp God’s faithfulness, as we live in a kind of ‘tit for tat’ world. I take you to the airport this month, with the unspoken understanding that should I need a ride to the airport next month, you and your SUV will be at my service.

I bring snacks to the soccer game this week, with the understanding that you’ll bring them next week.

I listen as you complain about your job, knowing you will listen to me complain about my job.

It’s a usually unspoken contract between friends, spouses and family members. And we would not hold up our end of that contract if, time after time, the other person violated it. I take you to the airport in January, March, April and August; but when I need a ride in July and October, you are not available.

Or I bring the snacks for soccer week after week after week, and none of the other parents ever offer.

Or I serve as the shoulder for you to cry on time after time, and yet when I have the need to cry, you look at your watch and head for the exit.

If we got the short stick in these relationships repeatedly, what would we do? I suspect we’d stop driving to the airport, stop bringing snacks, and stop lending an ear. We would stop being faithful to that person.

Fortunately, God is not like us. He remains faithful, no matter how we behave. He is who he is, regardless of who we are.

He remains faithful because, in Paul’s words, ‘He cannot deny himself.” What does that mean? It means that God is righteous and true to his word. It means that he is bound to his own nature and cannot deviate from it, even when we are faithless.

God has promised to remain faithful to us, if we believe in Jesus. Whatever doubts we may have from time to time, whatever mistakes we make, if we have faith in Jesus, God will remain true to his promise.

Let us thank God for his faithfulness today and every day.