Love and faithfulness

You, Lord , showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.  You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. 

I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants— but let them not turn to folly.  Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.  Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.  Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.  The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.  Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.

Psalms 85:1‭-‬2‭, ‬8‭-‬13 NIV

https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.85.1-13.NIV

The second reading for the Second Sunday of Advent is from Psalm 85 - what you have just read. 

I would like to focus on verse 10 Love and faithfulness meet together: righteousness and peace kiss each other. 

These two words Love and Faithfulness are associated with marriage.  For any marriage to be successful, these two ingredients have to be present in both parties to the marriage.  And, I might go further to suggest that without the one, the other is lost too. So, if there is no genuine love for the spouse, then the ability to stay faithful is lacking, and likewise, if one spouse is being unfaithful, then it is questionable as to whether that love that drew the couple together is as it was at the beginning.  

Of course, humans being human means that we often lack constancy and even the best of people lose patience with others for one reason or another. We also lose patience for ourselves. There are two other scriptures that bring these ideas together. 

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; 

bind them around your neck, 

write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:3. 

It is because of the Lord's lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22‭-‬23 AMP

https://bible.com/bible/1588/lam.3.22-23.AMP

We need to look to our Lord for the model of love and faithfulness. He is the faithful One. Other people may give up on us, but God never gives up on us. We sometimes give up on ourselves. We are tempted to give up on some dream that once motivated us, because of disappointment or failure, or because others have told us it is unrealistic. We want to throw it all down and walk away.

Maybe you had in mind to something amazing for someone you love, and your pour your heart and soul into getting it just right, but then something is said that gives you the feeling that all that effort was not appreciated. It's very easy to become despondent. But, it is when the battle gets the hardest and we want to throw in the towel and give in. 

It might be that you are trying to overcome an addiction of some sort, and you try and you try, but the addictive urge drags you down and you say to yourself "just this once", but of course the once soon becomes multiple times, and suddenly you realise, and you feel such a failure. It is then that you need to remember that God has not given up on you, and with God's help you can get to that point when you can look back and say "one year ago, I had my last ..." "Two years ago","Ten years ago..." And most people who reach that freedom, which was not acquired without a struggle, can testify to how their life has got better without that thing, whatever it was. 

Know this: 

God loves you. God's love is unconditional and God's love is continual. There are no brakes on God's love

God's love is always fresh, New every morning.

God is faithful. 

These facts about God's love can help us to develop that kind of love and faithfulness.

We can be faithful in our relationships, in our work (doing the best we can, taking a price in our work), and in our promises (actually doing what we say we'll do).