Dave continued his series on the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) this morning, speaking on faithfulness. Faith is defined as ‘complete trust or confidence’, a ‘firm belief (often without logical proof.)’ Our faith rests, however, on the faithfulness of God’s character (see Deut 7:9, Ps 33:4). Everyone has faith in something (doctors, cars, the cleanliness of restaurants and their desire not to poison their clientele!) and we need to understand that the fruit of faithfulness is grown in us by God’s Spirit because God Himself is faithful. He has called us into fellowship with His Son (1 Cor 1:9) and therefore our duty is to grow in faithfulness. We want to be ‘good and faithful servants’ who will do what God asks us to do, growing into people who are reliable, trustworthy, honest and dependable.
Our faithfulness is manifested in different ways. We need to be faithful first and foremost to God, who must have our first love and commitment. Next, we need to be faithful to our families (to wives or husbands, children and parents), honouring God’s desire for love to be seen in the family. We need to be faithful to the church and to our friends, faithful to God’s word, to prayer and to fellowship, and faithful also in our work, showing God’s character to our employers through the way we work. We need also to be faithful to the people God has called us to be, understanding our identity in God.
1 Cor 4:1-2 reminds us that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. Faithfulness is not the same as intelligence or talents; it is a steady reliability which is committed to doing God’s will, regardless of feelings. We are encouraged to meet together and build each other up, reminding ourselves that we can only do this because God Himself is faithful. (Heb 10:23) John reminds us that we are required to be faithful ‘even to the point of death’, but that God promises ‘the crown of life’ to those who overcome. (Rev 2:10) May faithfulness abound as we rest in the faithfulness of God.
