But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Don’t you just hate it when you look up a definition and it uses the word you wanted defined? I looked up the definition of faithfulness and it said “The quality of being faithful; fidelity.” How is that supposed to define faithfulness? Thankfully, we already have an idea of what it means. Unfortunately, we probably have all experienced someone in our lives who was not faithful towards either us or someone we love. And, we are all unfaithful to God (and potentially others) at times.
As I have done for many of the attributes listed above, I also looked up the biblical definition of faithfulness. That definition was “A demonstration of loyalty and trust in God’s promises, even in the face of adversity or temptation.” If you take out the God part, that is what I wish I would have seen on the worldly definition. Faithfulness, both worldly and biblically, is loyalty through thick and thin. It reminds me of wedding vows, how the bride and groom say “for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health.” That is the ultimate worldly commitment of faithfulness to another person.
Today, however, we are going to be discussing faithfulness to God in our lives. Luke 16:10 says, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” This verse makes me think of a child. If a mother tells her young son to brush his teeth, the son has two options in order to hopefully please his mom. He can either go brush his teeth, or go into the bathroom and get his toothbrush wet, stay in there a few minutes, and run the water a few times in hopes of making his mom think he brushed his teeth. Now, when the little boy grows up a bit and his mom asks him to clean his room, he again has two options that he hopes will please his mother. He can either properly clean his room and put everything away, or he can shove everything under his bed. We all know the right choices in these situations, but I am sure many of us have been tempted to choose the other option. We also know that the mom can easily check the son’s teeth to see if he really brushed them and she can look under his bed to see if he shoved everything under there.
Those examples are more about honesty than faithfulness, but as we grow up, we can apply similar concepts in our lives. If the son truly understood that his mom wanted the best for him and he wanted to show loyalty and trust in her, he would want to do the right thing, even if he did not understand why he had to do those things in the moment. We are so often like the child who pretends to brush his teeth or shoves everything under his bed. We can easily forget to truly put our trust in and show loyalty to God in our daily lives.
How can we show faithfulness in our daily lives though? Be consistently reading the Bible, pray always, give God the glory, trust Him in every situation (easier said than done). These are just a few ways to show faithfulness to God. He does not require us to put on a show to try to impress people with our dedication to Him, but instead He requires true heart dedication and loyalty from those who love and trust in Him. Faithfulness cannot be faked, whether towards God or towards other people. Like the son who makes the “sneaky” choices, God knows when we are not being faithful and that happens probably more than any of us would want to admit. =
What happens then, when we are not faithful? Thankfully, God already knows that will happen. 2 Timothy 2:13 tells us, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” God is always faithful because that is His nature; His faithfulness to us is not dependent on our faithfulness to Him. Can you imagine if His faithfulness depended on our faithfulness? When we are unfaithful to Him, He is unfaithful to us? That would not be good! I am so thankful that His faithfulness is only based on His own character! We can be so easily influenced by the world and forget to include God in our plans, but He never forgets about us. He is always working everything for the good of those who love Him, even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment.
Abbi