Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness

            Isaiah 25:1, “Yahweh, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.”

An attribute of God is His faithfulness and if we are His children, firstborn in the Kingdom of God, then we reflect this quality also. We are faithful in friendship, faithful in marriage, faithful in keeping His values…faithful – meaning dependable, reliable, consistent, and repeatable.

When we say God is faithful it means He is totally trustworthy – more exactly, “perfectly faithful”… and of course, most of us probably knew that, but do we really believe that?

The opening scripture, written by the prophet Isaiah, speaks of God not only having made plans in the beginning but He has perfectly accomplished them, just as He said He would. He knew the end from the beginning, so, from the beginning He has declared the end. In all the universe, the Lord is not only the impeccable example of faithfulness, He is the very personification of faithfulness.

When i first moved here, one of the first things the Lord told me was to be consistent and repeatable, be dependable and do what you say…and if i had trouble doing what i said, then promise less and THINK before i opened my mouth that, as a testimony of God’s faithfulness, i would be known as faithful as He is faithful.

Faithfulness is the concept of unfailingly remaining loyal to someone or something and putting that loyalty into consistent practice, regardless of extenuating circumstances. If we’ve promised someone to be somewhere at a certain time, regardless of if something better comes along, we do what we’ve said. If we’ve given our word to our kids to do something and the boss calls, we keep our commitment to the kids… being consistent and repeatable, thereby teaching them by example to be the same. Ultimately, faithfulness applies to God himself with regard to his perpetual love towards his children that is not dependent on their worthiness.

Literally, it is the state of being full of faith in the somewhat archaic sense of steady devotion to a person, thing, or concept. i realize that sounds a little academic, and it is in a way, but truth be known, faithfulness and loyalty speak of the heart and core of God towards us. It is a fruit of righteousness, and if we have believed in Christ to salvation, then we are, indeed, the righteousness of God in Christ, as stated in 2Cor 5:21.

These days, in a world of moveable boundaries, flexible morals, loose ethics, and principles that change colors depending on the backdrop, i believe the fruit of the Spirit, faithfulness, is one of our most excellent testimonies to the greatness of our God.

Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” We need to get that down in our heads, He is faithful! It seems to me that if we, who say we believe, really, truly believed the Lord is faithful, we would most certainly act differently many times.

Having faithfulness as a part of our righteous character…it is visible in our intent or how we lean towards God, and from our intent His goodness flows out onto the world like a wave; His faithfulness in us plants seeds of righteousness and grace everywhere we go. i like the idea of making things beautiful wherever i go…wouldn’t that be wonderful if wherever we went, dead flowers bloomed again and grass grew where there was no grass…all due to the presence of God in us that He would be glorified? It seems to me that is the picture in Isaiah 61:3.

The Lord has a way of pointing out His attributes to unbelievers…whether they see them or not is their choosing, but His illumination is there…and don’t you know, the world takes note of our loyalty to Christ, our dependability, our inclination to be consistent and repeatable, it is light through a prism in the eyes of others. Did you get that? When we are faithful like the Lord is faithful, the world takes note of our loyalty to Christ, our consistent dependability and reliability and it’s like a light through a prism in the eyes of others.

When we claim to be faithful and then our actions reveal our infidelities, with fickle loyalties and a wobbly commitment to the truth, no wonder the ever-watching world has become disillusioned with Christianity.

Faithfulness is related to that of fidelity and several times the original Bible translators interchanged “faithful” with “fidelity”…anytime we see the words, “Hi-fidelity” on a stereo or an album cover, it means it is considered “faithful” to its source… as believers, it is the fruit of righteousness to be “faithful” to our source. Fidelity and faithfulness are the characteristics of the one who can be relied on.

Titus 2:10, “… showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” Paul used the word “adorn” referring to the “garland of grace” we wear, with faithfulness as part of that crown. Our lives are lived in “patterns of grace”, we are crowned with a “garland of grace”, and by the blood of Christ, we are dependable, consistent, and repeatable with hi-fidelity, faithful to our source.

The contrast to fidelity would be “infidelity”. When a business partner has sworn loyalty to the company but shares company secrets and does work secretly for another company…that would be considered “unfaithful”. Loyalty and faithfulness, or “fidelity” is to Godliness, what disloyalty and “infidelity” is to Godlessness. Do we practice “fidelity” to our church brand, or are we faithful to our source? i think… maybe…these days many are more in love with their brand than with the source of their salvation.

We wear our faithfulness as a ring or bracelet, it adorns us like jewels for all to see as a reflection of Jesus in our hearts. Faithfulness isn’t just how you act, it’s more than what you do… it’s our dependable, consistent, and repeatable lifestyle.

Deuteronomy 32:4, “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are entirely just, A faithful God without prejudice; He is Righteous and True.”

First, faithfulness applies to God Himself and expresses His total dependability. He is absolutely and entirely believable and trustworthy…He means what He says, and does not waver…His works and His words are inhabited by His faithfulness. Psalm 36:5, “Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.” His reliability and steadfastness also describe His works… Psalm 33:4, “For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.”

Second, it applies to us, His people, and is characteristic of those made right in God’s sight. i believe, seeing as how we are the righteousness of God in Christ, we should be, among all people in the world, the most believable, and most trustworthy… keeping our word with unwavering integrity…as He is, so are we in this world.

Proverbs 12:22 “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD: but they that deal faithfully are his delight.” That scripture brings up a point: If you’ve got something good at home, you are greatly blessed and God delights in your faithfulness… keep what you’ve got and don’t be a relational vagrant or emotionally vacant, in fact, do everything you can to not even entertain the dream of being with someone else or being somewhere else.

This next part is important so listen up: The grass IS NOT greener on the other side, it’s green where you water it! 

The gardens that grow the best flowers and vegetables are the ones someone has diligently and faithfully tended. When we leave this earth, everyone will look back and want to know they did the best they could with what they had as best they knew how. In a beautiful, well-watered, green garden, the weeds are pulled, the soil is turned, the dead flowers are removed… it is fertilized and watered regularly. Someone invested time and effort to make it beautiful.

i want to say it again: The grass IS NOT greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it.

There is never a good excuse for a lack of faithfulness to righteous things, even if we’re constantly surrounded by temptation. Temptation isn’t the problem, it’s a heart problem.

Take it from a man with personal experience: If you’re in a relationship that’s a secret, something is wrong. If you have to sneak to do it, lie to cover it up or delete it to keep it from being seen, something is wrong. Oh man, do we need to get that. Here it is again: If you’re in a relationship that’s a secret, something is wrong. If you have to sneak to do it, lie to cover it up or delete it to keep it from being seen, something is wrong. We should be faithful to investigate and resolve our internal conflict. You may think, “I’ll never get caught.”…well…be wise and think again, secrets have a way of not remaining secret.

If we say things to others that are hurtful and not quite truthful… when they protest our words and we say, “Oh, i don’t remember saying that,” making ourselves not responsible, that is not being a faithful friend. It just seems to be an awfully convenient thing to say in order to avoid our own liabilities and disloyalties. We are not only faithful to keep the word of the Lord, but we should also be faithful to be responsible for our own words and actions.

Faithfulness doesn’t need to sneak, lie, cover-up, or delete, and if you’re tempted, stop standing there like some impervious soldier bravely facing into the wind. We don’t have to keep standing there letting temptation dictate how we act and what we do. Most temptation is avoidable if we’re interested and we only need to weather the storm. Remember that scripture about ‘resisting the devil and he’ll flee from you? Yea, it really does work you know… it’s the truth. When we’re in the valley of the shadow of death, it is only a shadow to us who are believers. What are we willing to leave behind of ourselves so that we would not sin against God?

Joseph was faithful to God and when temptation pounded on his door, like the wise and faithful man he was, he ran away leaving his, probably, very expensive garment in her hands.

i knew a guy who went to prison for 5 years which served to help him get over his addiction to drugs, gambling, and thievery. While in prison he met the Lord which turned his head and heart around. At about the same time, the enemy started sending temptation after temptation to try and cut his feet out from under him, but he was determined to face into the wind, weathering the storm. He told me that one day he couldn’t take the pressure anymore and cried out to God, “Lord, please take the seemingly endless line of temptation out from in front of me!” The Lord instantly replied, “You don’t have to keep standing there where you can be tempted. Temptation has no more power over you other than what you allow.”

         Hab 2:4 “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness”

i meet so many people who are or have been incarcerated. They often tell me they want help finding a job, getting some identification, or a place to live… they want help getting free of their bad habits and addictions, and there’s always the sincere presentation that they want to know Jesus above all things…they want to come to Bible study and church, and they are always just so believable in the moment. From years of practice, true though, some are straight up, but many are good at appearing faithful and sincere. Over the years, i’ve come to call their intentions not exactly the truth, but the “momentary truth”…meaning, in the moment, in the “now”, they mean what they say and it’s true at this juncture of time. But, for many, what is true today, may not necessarily be true tomorrow. Most of them are well-meaning “in the moment”, but rarely do i find one who, straightforwardly and plainly just shows up, and is faithful to continue showing up.

i read somewhere that 80% of success is being faithful to simply show up. i think so many folks are often just sad, or defeated within themselves, so much so that they think there’s no point in showing up. Being faithful is showing up regardless of what we think the outcome might be. If you have a job interview and you think there is no chance of getting the job, be faithful to the Lord and show up for the interview…you never know what will happen. If you tell someone you’ll meet them for coffee, be faithful to your word and show up, and if you can’t, call as soon as you know you’re not going to make it. It is courteous, considerate, and it is being faithful to your word as God is faithful to His word. Because He keeps His word, we are empowered to keep our word.

On a side note, if a man is only as good as his word, what does it say of him if his words are profanity, accusing, and complaining, casting shadows, or slandering others? What do you think that speaks of him? That person may say, “Well, i’m just getting at the truth, and the world around me has lied to me”, while they’re busy cutting the legs out from under everyone around them. What does that say of him? Can it more be an attitude of, “i’m hurt and i’m gonna make you all pay!”

i believe a man’s word is no better than the man behind it and a faithful man keeps his word. It’s better to not give someone your word knowing it will hurt their feelings than to make them happy with promises and not follow through. Take it from me, years ago i used to be an old mr. go-along-to-get-along and i’d make a commitment in hopes someone would like me in the moment. Promising to be faithful and then not following through is giving someone false hope…and friends, false hope is far more cruel than the truth ever thought of being. Oh man, say that again – false hope is far more cruel than the truth ever thought of being. Numbers 32:24, “Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.”

Jesus was the pinnacle of faithfulness and we would be just flat-out egotistical to think we could become like Jesus merely by trying. True, there is something to be said for making an effort and endurance, of course, but by our own effort, we’ll never be like Jesus. We cannot succeed on our own… ain’t nobody smart enough to run their own life. In light of that, even so, each true believer does have the potential to behave as Jesus behaved because each Christian has within them God’s Holy Spirit. Now you may not believe there is such a person as the Holy Spirit. Ok, you do what you like, but i’m a witness and i’ve seen His presence like a heavy wind moves the tree tops. At one time, you said, “Lord show me these Holy Spirit people who are like the people in Acts 2, and He did. Now years later, you are questioning if the Holy Spirit is someone or something which was invented? Ok…you do what you want, but it doesn’t change anything.

1 Cor3:16, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”.

We can each be faithful to our calling because the Lord lives in us and empowers us to accomplish His will. The Lord empowers us to have self-control, gentleness, and to be faithful…without Him in our lives, we would not have these character traits. C’mon church…stand up…we can do this!

Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit, it is one of the fruits of righteousness, and yes, i’m speaking about our character.

The world around us seems to not mind too much if they are faithful or not, but i do believe that most folks probably mean well, but often, if they fail in faithfulness they take a posture of indifference. For me, i don’t believe it…i think most people truly do care if they are faithful and their posture of indifference or deflecting, saying that others do the same thing, is simply a defense mechanism for dealing with pain.

The problem with adopting a posture of indifference and deflecting is…the longer we practice those things, the better we get at doing them…and the better we get at doing them, the more we become indifferent for real. Indifference seems to easily fall prey to blind loyalty in an effort, maybe, to at least stand for something. !BUT…

And you’ve gotta get this: Being faithful to God’s values does not mean blind loyalty to men…blind loyalty is not loyalty no more than peace at any cost is peace. There’s another one worthy to say and say again that you would hear and hear again: Being faithful to God’s values does not mean blind loyalty to men…blind loyalty is not loyalty no more than peace at any cost is peace. i think too many, these days, are more loyal to and in love with their brand, rather than being true to their source… their brand being their denomination, church leadership, or even political party. Of course, their brand may BE their source, and in that case, things are certainly a dead end in the end.

Do we think the enemy of our soul cares what we do as long as we are not being faithful to God’s values? Alexander the Great said, “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” Having the righteous fruit of faithfulness in our lives means we are faithful to the Lion of Judah, we are sheep led by a lion. We can not be blindly loyal to our church denomination and still be faithful to God… at some point, i guarantee, our blind loyalties will cause us to compromise our God values. Being faithful means we are conscious and responsible for our actions, thinking and careful about what we commit to. If we say to ourselves that we are “too busy” to think about being consciously responsible…remember…if you’re too busy, you’re the one who said ‘yes’. T.D. Jakes said, “It is your life, you are the one writing the composition, and if you don’t like the way the script is turning out, through Christ, you have the power to change the storyline.” Big think about it on that one!

Our fully awake, carefully committed faithfulness to God is a testimony to the world which arouses faith in others… it is not always easy to find people who do what they say and say what they do, and if they find they are having trouble being faithful to their commitments, they have learned to promise less and be more committed to the things they’re loyal to. It is better to be faithful in a few things than to sound good by promising a lot and failing to follow through. Take the story of faithfulness and loyalty in Luke 19 where the big boss was going on a trip and left money for his servants to invest. When he got back he asked them how their investing went and the very first person whose reply is recorded in scripture said he invested a small amount and got back a large amount. To that, the big boss, in vs 17 said, “’Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’”

God gives increased authority and influence to those who are faithful to His values…our gifts don’t govern our character, our righteous character governs the administration of our gifts. Let me say and then say again, so hear and then hear again: our gifts don’t govern our character, our righteous character governs the administration of our gifts. 

Among the fruits of the Spirit, as listed in Galatians5:22-23, faithfulness is very close to God’s heart, it speaks of His Che’sed, His loyalty and commitment to all He says and does, to His love and purposes for the blessing and benefit of His people. Jesus went to the cross because He was faithful to His word. Jesus rose from the dead because the Father was faithful to resurrect the Son. Jesus is glorified because the Holy Spirit is faithful to point Him out. The Lord is not “God of the final hour”, He is always right on time, just as He said…He is faithful, and because He is faithful, we can be faithful, to the end and beyond. Amen and think about it.

According to Proverbs 20:6, those who are faithful…loyal, dependable, consistent and repeatable are difficult to find and a real treasure when found. “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?”

We are to be faithful to follow Jesus. We can’t just keep on doing the same old things we’ve always done…we have to change. Not to be repetitive, but, How many people have lost sight of Jesus all because they’ve been loyal to their brand rather than following the Lord?… as He changes direction, we too must change. We have to look to Christ, not to our traditions. He may want us to do the same things for a long time, and they may become traditional to us, but we can never let those traditions become more central to us than God is, nor let them become so important to us that we can’t hear him saying, “It’s time to change.”

When Israel was in the wilderness, they had to listen to what God was saying. They didn’t go to Canaan by the quickest highway, because first they had to learn to trust God, and learning to trust God is learning to be faithful. When Christ calls us to follow him, we need to follow. We can’t just pick our own path — and we can’t even stay on the first path he puts us on…we have to continue to follow him. We must let him change us as is necessary.

Psalm 15:1-5, “Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD? Who can enter Your presence on Your holy hill? Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the LORD, and keep their word even when it hurts.”

Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit. It is another evidence of God’s presence in us. Let the Lord teach you to trust Him, you are indeed a gleaming gem in Christ, faithful, gentle, and a diligent possessor of self-control.