“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22, NIV).”
“Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel! The Lord has filed a lawsuit against you, saying: There is no faithfulness, no kindness, knowledge of God in your land” (Hosea 4:1, NLT).
Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit produced in the life of a yielded believer by the Holy Spirit. Faithfulness can be described as fidelity, loyalty, reliability, and dependability. Those that are faithful are dependable and can be trusted to be there in a pinch. They are like the North Star burning bright, burning constant, but unlike a shooting star that burns brightly for a while and then burns out. The faithful person obeys the word of God and Holy Spirit closely. They maintain a firm and unswerving loyalty to anyone united to them by promise or commitment.
In a day of broken covenants and promises throughout the world and even in the church, it is vital that true believers learn once again to develop the powerful force of faithfulness in their lives. The believer can be ever increasing in the revelation and practice of faithfulness by coming to three realizations about faithfulness.
First, we must realize how faithful God has been to us. God is the standard, the model, and the example of faithfulness for all of us. The Scripture says that “the unfailing love of the Lord never ends…great is his faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23, NLT). Psalm 33:4 declares, “For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.” God is boldly revealed in Scripture again and again as faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9; Psalm 25:10). The question is not whether God is going to be faithful and true to his word and character. The question is whether his people are going to follow his example. Fact #1 about faithfulness: God expects me to be faithful too!
Second, we must realize how rare faithfulness is these days and strive to be different-apply ourselves to being what is sorely lacking in the world and church today-constant, diligent, faithful. Proverbs 20:6 says, “Many a man claims to unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?” The word of God describes what it is like to depend on an unfaithful person: “Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in times of trouble” (Proverbs 25:19, NIV). Faithfulness is a primary indication of spiritual maturity and lack of it indicates that a person is not growing up in the faith. We are to be faithful in prayer, dying to self, giving, serving, obeying God-we are to be faithful to our families, to our churches, and to God. Luke 8:18 sums up the heart of God on the dearth of faithfulness in this world: “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Fact #2 about faithfulness: Others depend on me to be faithful!
Finally, we need to realize how much God values and honors faithfulness: “Let love and faithfulness never leave you” (Proverbs 3:3, NIV). The Parable of the Talents teaches us that faithfulness is one of the keys to promotion in the kingdom of God. Paul admonished the Corinthians, “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2, NIV). Proverbs 28:20 declares, “The faithful man will abound with blessings” (KJV). In fact, God promises his favor, empowerment, blessing, protection, revelation, and promotion to the faithful person-and since God is faithful to his promises, if we are faithful, we will be blessed. Fact #3 about faithfulness – We will be rewarded for our faithfulness!
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