October 9th, 2013
Psalms 19:1-6 — The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
News Flash! The sun rose over Collier County, Florida, today. It rose yesterday, and will also rise tomorrow.
News Flash! Ian was not his bright smiley self on Monday, was more cheerful on Tuesday and is expected to be variable for the rest of the week.
OK, that’s a bit hokey … but you get the point. God is consistent. I (and, I dare say you fall into the same category) am not. Does that matter? Now a lot of what follows is “other men’s flowers” — but I hope you’ll agree with how I’ve arranged them.
Some great men have had unkind things to say about consistency:
“Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.” ? Aldous Huxley, Do What You Will: Twelve Essays
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” ? Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
I’m not at all sure that these smart gentlemen are right. At least I think they might be deploring the wrong thing. There is consistency in what we say and what we do, and maybe that’s nonessential. Circumstances, as they say, alter cases. But why do we say what we say and do what we do?
In a study guide, discussing the fruits of the Spirit, David Jeremiah says “a person who develops the quality of long-suffering or patience is a man or woman who will first of all discover what it means to be consistent in living. The thing we all lack is a consistent day to day existence before God. One of the things which impedes our consistent lives more than anything else is the lack of patience. We react impatiently to things.”
Patience is just one of the fruits of the Spirit. Put all those fruits together and you have the foundation of a Christian character. If those clever men who scoff at consistency are scoffing at consistency of character — for which another word is integrity — they are surely missing the mark.
Consistent character, developed in us by the in-dwelling Holy Spirit, is surely essential to Christian life. Let me finish with one more quotation, this time from F. B. Meyer:
The supreme test of goodness is not in the greater but in the smaller incidents of our character and practice; It is impossible to be our best at the supreme moment if character is corroded and eaten into by daily inconsistency, unfaithfulness, and besetting sin.
God is consistent. I am not — but I’ll keep trying.