The Dependable Man of God
Think back to your first real job. Not the chores your parents made you do, even if they paid you. And not the job you got when you began life as an adult. Think about the first job you took so you could earn money for a date, or to save for something expensive you wanted like a car or a Crumbl Cookie.
Your first job with a boss.
Your first job where responsibility really mattered – where you were held accountability for the quality of your work and your dependability as a worker. Maybe you mowed lawns, worked at a fast-food restaurant, had cleanup duties on a construction crew, or did manual labor on a farm. But whatever it was, there’s a good chance you learned the same lesson Dick Saunders learned from his first real job:
Dependability matters.
Dick built one of the biggest and most successful construction companies in Colorado. But way back in 1951, shortly after his mother moved the family to Niagara Falls, N.Y., Dick borrowed the family’s motorless push mower and scoured the neighborhoods in search of clients for his new lawn care business. He was just shy of his 11th birthday.
As it happened, one of his customers planned to be out of town for several weeks, so he paid Dick 50 percent of his fee up front with the agreement that he’d pay the remainder when he returned – if Dick did a good job.
It didn’t take long for temptation to enter the story.
“This customer had dozens of flagstone pavers leading from the house to the yard, and they had to be hand-clipped around the edges,” Dick said in Blue Skies, a memoir he wrote as a gift to his family and friends. “It was a tiresome task, and I neglected it when I mowed the lawn each week. The stones were soon overgrown with grass, and the yard looked ragged as a result.”
A few days before the homeowner returned, however, Dick made up for lost time. He cut the grass around the flagstones and put them in trash barrels with the rest of the lawn clippings. The lawn looked great. But the client took one look at the overloaded trash cans and asked Dick if he had really kept his end of the bargain.
“I don’t remember what I said, but I do remember being ashamed and embarrassed, wishing I hadn’t slacked off,” Dick wrote. “And I remember that, along with a gentle reprimand, he rightly reduced my pay.”
The lesson: “Do what you say you’re going to do!”
It’s nearly impossible to find anyone who has achieved consistent, long-term success in life without proving themselves to be dependable, and that’s not just true when it comes to work. In fact, it’s even more true when we define success on God’s terms; not the world’s.
The importance of dependability is emphasized throughout scripture.
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” (Luke 16:10)
“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:2)
“A faithful person will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.” (Proverbs 28:20)
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (Matthew 25:21)
God is dependable. Men of God should be dependable.
But this character trait doesn’t come naturally. We have to develop it. And that development often hinges on how well we respond to experiences similar to Dick’s. What do we do, in other words, when we give in to our unreliable nature and shortchange our commitments?
If we consistently justify, blame, and ignore our failures, we develop a pattern that leads to mediocrity, regret, and sorrow. There are consequences when we don’t keep our commitments, especially to God – consequences for us personally, but also for our families, friends, co-workers, and communities.
But when we confess, repent, and then learn and grow from our failures, we can receive forgiveness and then develop better habits that lead to success. Not just success as the world defines it. Success that honors God. Kingdom success. And that type of dependability enriches our life and the lives of everyone around us.
“Blessing,” as pastor and author Max Lucado once put it, “always follows obedience.” So, here are a few things we can keep in mind if we want to make dependability our default response:
1. Dependability is a daily decision.
What we did or didn’t do yesterday takes on greater significance based on what we do next, because patterns matter more than perfection.
“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” (Daniel 6:10)
2. Dependability requires a pure heart.
Dependability without a pure heart puts us on a path to legalism.
Let’s say we make a commitment to get up at 5 a.m. every day and spend 30 minutes reading and reflecting on scripture and praying for our family.
We can keep that commitment every day for a year and still gain very little if we are doing it mainly to check a box on our to-do list and not to truly connect with God. On the other hand, even if we miss a few days each month – we are sick, traveling, or just oversleep occasionally – we will still reap blessings if the overall pattern shows a dependable heart for spending time with and honoring God.
“A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart.” (Proverbs 21:2)
3. Dependability invites accountability.
Because we’re all so dang infallible, we need someone to hold us accountable to our commitments. For those of us who are married, this starts with our spouses. But having a few men in our lives who we trust and who won’t let us get away with taking shortcuts is also invaluable, both for prevention and for restoration.
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)
4. Dependability requires humility.
It’s interesting that when Lucado said blessing follows obedience, he immediately followed that with a warning. “But with that blessing,” he said, “comes a snare.”
Success often creates what he called “me-ism,” which leads to pride, a lack of gratitude to God as the giver of that success, and a devotion to “stuff” (money, fame, possessions) rather than to God.
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2)
Godly dependability begins with and is sustained by our dependance on God. If we surrender to him over and over, when we’re doing well and when we’re not, He helps us stay on track, or get back on track and live as dependable men of God. His love for us never fails, and the Holy Spirit is always there to help us, counsel us, comfort us and support us. We can depend on that!