What Does Consistency Look Like?

How do you define consistency? How does your definition of consistency influence your daily actions?

I recently learned about a couple who, for nearly fifty years, have spent their Friday nights doing laundry together, a tradition that speaks volumes about the power of meaningful routines in a relationship. This Friday night ritual began while they were dating in college, and it seems likely that laundry nights doubled as their date nights, blending practicality with romance and carving out intentional time for one another. What began as a necessity turned into a sort of tradition, enduring seamlessly from their dating during college days through over four decades of marriage.

That is what I would call consistency.

I have some consistency in my life. My two main consistent areas are Mondays and mornings.

Mondays are my busy workdays. I do laundry, change beds, sweep, mop, dust, and generally straighten up. Sometimes it falls over into Tuesdays, but Monday is consistently my day to get weekly chores done.

Mornings are when I spend quiet time with my Lord. I find a quiet place with my Bible and my phone.  I seek a scripture that I can either send as-is or turn into a prayer and send to family and friends each morning to remind them that I am thinking of them and praying for them. Sometimes it does not happen early and is later in the morning, or even later in the evening. But it has become a special, sacred time for me and I rarely miss it.

There are several areas in my life where I would like to build greater consistency — getting more sleep, practicing better eating habits, getting more exercise, and developing  more structure in general. 

Consistency matters.

It matters in our everyday life.

It matters in our spiritual life. 

My spirit is strengthened through the time that I spend in Scripture, especially when I am consistently seeking guidance from God’s Word.  I have found that when I seek to learn through my studies, God will reward me for my effort.

A story from the Bible that screams consistency is the story of Daniel and his habit of daily prayer.  Daniel knelt and prayed toward Jerusalem three times a day, without fail. Even when the princes of King Darius’ court devised a way to punish him for his consistency toward honoring his God, he remained faithful.

Daniel was aware that the princes had arranged it so that King Darius would have no choice but to punish him by throwing him into the lion’s den. 

“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.”  Daniel 6:10

Daniel was consistent, even in the face of death.

What the princes did not count on was the strength of the relationship Daniel had with his God through faithful communication, through his habit of consistent prayer. 

We see in Daniel 6:16-22, Daniel is not spared from the earthly consequences of his intimate, daily relationship with God. He was thrown into the lion’s den for disobeying the order to bow down before the King’s statue.

But then we also see that he was spared the outcome that the world expected.

Daniel came out of the lion’s den unharmed. He wasn’t spared the den. He was spared in the den.

Daniel consistently honored his God. His God honored him. 

Consistency matters!

Again, I will ask, “How does your definition of consistency influence your daily actions?”

More importantly, “How does your practice of consistency influence your daily actions?”

Someone is watching what we repeatedly do.

Our families are watching. Our friends are watching. Our children and grandchildren are watching.

And sometimes, our consistency becomes someone else’s glimpse of God.

Our consistency can influence the world!

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What is your relationship to the all-knowing God of the universe? Do you know the peace that can come only from an intimate relationship with Jesus? You can know Him.  Jesus Christ—God’s Son, born into human flesh, sinless, crucified and giving His life freely, buried, arisen on the third day—will come into your life and change the outcome of your eternity. You just have to be willing to believe and accept His truth. In addition, here is an excellent page that can give you additional information on peace with God: PeaceWithGod.net. 

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