Galatians 5.22-23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control …”
The next fruit of the Spirit is “faithfulness.” This is the Greek pistis, and in this context it refers to the virtue of faithfulness, loyalty, courage, reliability. Like all of the fruit of the Spirit, pistis is a deep and powerful virtue. A person who is faithful follows through on their promises. You can count on them to do their job and fulfill their responsibilities.
God is faithful to us, his people, and he expects us to be faithful to him. Please note that all of the fruit of the Spirit follow this pattern. Each of the fruit of the Spirit are virtue/characteristic of God himself, and we are to reflect and demonstrate those virtues of God in our life. This is what it means to bear his image … to be conformed to his image … to be transformed into his image …to reflect the character of God.
Faithfulness is no exception. Lamentations 3:22-23 provides a beautiful description of the Lord’s faithfulness: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
The question is, how will we respond to God’s faithfulness to us? Will we be faithful and true to him as he is faithful to us? As we navigate through life, as we do our jobs every day, as we interact with our family, will we reflect the character and virtues of the God who created us, redeemed us, and calls us?
Once again, the book of James helps us. “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?” (James 3.17-20)
There is a big difference between professing faith and practicing faith. Or to put it in the language of the fruit of the Spirit, there is a big difference between saying you have “faith” and actually being faithful. Our world is full of people who say they have faith in Jesus. Our world is sorely lacking in people who are actually faithful to Jesus.
Your faithfulness should extend into every dimension of your life.
- Be faithful to your profession of faith in Christ. This is obedience.
- Be faithful to the important people in your life. This is love.
- Be faithful to the promises you make. This is reliability.
- Be faithful to the principles and standards of scripture.This is character.
- Be faithful to the processes and practices of your work. This is competence and excellence on the job.
All human relationships and interpersonal systems depend on faithfulness / trustworthiness / reliability. It is the way God designed human systems to operate. Faithfulness / trustworthiness / reliability is the necessary glue that holds all relationships together. What happens to any of the following human system when faithfulness is not present?
Marriage and family
Business
Athletic team
School
Church
Government
These are all social systems — interpersonal systems — that require faithfulness and trustworthiness in order to operate efficiently and effectively. If someone isn’t reliable and you can’t trust them, the system is weakened and will eventually break. The impact of unfaithfulness or not being reliable is devastating.
Consider the current relationship between the US government and its citizens. As of this writing, the disapproval rating of the US Congress is 78%. That lack of confidence transcends political parties. The American people simply do not trust the government.
It’s not much better in the business world. A recent Gallup Poll on employee engagement reveals that 49% of workers are disengaged. 18% are actively disengaged. That means that only 33% of workers are engaged in their place of work. Nevertheless, they still go to work every day and collect a paycheck.
Nor is it any better in marriages. Between 40% and 50% of marriages in America end in divorce. Many more are still married but disconnected. (By the way, the divorce rate is pretty much the same for Christian marriages as it is for the “secular” world.)
Faithfulness drives relationships, and relationships drive interpersonal systems. God calls us to be faithful people. He calls to be people that others can trust. May the followers of Christ be salt and light in the midst of a disconnected world and demonstrate the kind of faithfulness that comes from the indwelling Spirit of God.
“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?” (Luke 18.8)
