The Fruit of Faithfulness and You

By Pastor Doug

As I read through the list of nine spiritual fruit it’s obvious at least to me that each one is just as important as the other. Paul tells us, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such here is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23. Besides the fruit of love, which fruit stands out to you? Without a doubt love is most important. I believe it is the source from which all the other fruit spring from but today the fruit of faithfulness stands out to me because of its importance to our Christian life.

The personification of faithfulness is found in God Himself. God is faithful. He does not have to work at being faithful like we do, He just is. When He makes a promise, He keeps it. 1 Kings 8:56 says “Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.” This verse oozes with the faithfulness of God. He makes promises and not one word fails.

God’s faithfulness certainly makes Him stand apart from others. The writer of Psalm 89:8 asks a probing question. “O LORD God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness surrounds You.” If faithfulness represents a wall of strength and protection, our God is impenetrable to the enemy.

God’s faithfulness provides blessing and protection for His children. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.” I like hearing that. This is Jesus telling me He has my back. He will protect us from evil.

This next promise takes away our excuse to say the devil made me do it. Paul tells us here that when temptation comes there is an escape route. He says, “no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

This is so powerful. I’ll admit that I have at times ignored this one. My desire to yield to the flesh overcame my desire to escape its snares. Have you ever been there? What’s the answer when we are? Thankfully the faithfulness of Jesus is the answer.

1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I’m so thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness and willingness to forgive me. Don’t forget that when you do wrong Jesus is always there to give you an opportunity to get things right. (We should say a quick prayer here. “Lord help me not let Your willingness to forgive my sin be an excuse to easily choose to sin.”)

Think about the importance of faithfulness. If God were unfaithful even once He would not be God. But He is faithful and that faithfulness alone should cause our hearts to be full of respect and awe. Our God is reliable and unwavering and will be forever.

Needing others to take care of our responsibilities happens at times but doing that should not be done flippantly or excessively, especially when it is last minute. Proverbs 25:19 says “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint.” In other words, putting your responsibility on others when you don’t need to causes pain and weakness on others.

Ephesians 5:1 tells us to “… be imitators of God as dear children.” Christians should produce the fruit of faithfulness.  Be faithful to read God’s word and pray. Be faithful to keep the promises you make. Be faithful in marriage and family relationships. Be faithful to fulfill your commitments at church, as well as at your jobs. Being faithful in all we do is a way to reflect God Himself in the world around us.