FAITHFULNESS ~ THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

“For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,

and his faithfulness
continues to each generation.”
Psalm 100:5 NLT
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Faithfulness – what a beautiful word! It brings all sorts of comforting and reassuring thoughts to mind. A faithful person keeps his promises – is reliable - trustworthy – loyal – never stops loving, no matter what the cost. As wonderful as that sounds, in all honesty we have to admit there are times when we have been less than totally reliable or trustworthy. We haven’t always kept the promises we’ve made. We have let people and God down. There is room for us to grow in faithfulness.

God has always been perfectly faithful, in every regard, all the time, and he sent his Son to personify what true faithfulness looks like in human form. When Jesus’ earthly parents missed him on the way home from the Passover festival, after searching, they found him at the temple asking questions of the religious leaders. Luke (2:48-49,51) says, his parents asked him “why have you done this to us?” And his response was “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” “Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.” Jesus clearly was totally faithful to his heavenly Father and to his earthly parents.

As an adult, Jesus chose 12 disciples to proclaim his teaching after he was gone. They disappointed him repeatedly with their lack of faith and their squabbling over who would be number one. Even when they forsook him, he remained faithful to them. He prayed to the Father, “During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.” (John 17:12) Jesus remained faithful to them.

Even when it meant facing the cross, he was faithful to the Father. Mark tells us that Jesus fell to the ground and “cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (14:36) He was faithful to the point of suffering the penalty for our sins.

As we yield to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we grow in faithfulness to God. And faithfulness to God translates into faithfulness to our marriage partner – family members – friends – and everyone with whom we have a relationship. Being unfaithful to anyone is unfaithfulness to God, and calls for repentance. “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 John 1:9) God has made every provision to help us grow in faithfulness.

Let’s Pray-
Thank you Father, for giving us the Holy Spirit, to produce the fruit of faithfulness in our lives.
Amen