Fruit of the Spirit: FAITHFULNESS

Faithfulness. This one word encompasses all God has been, all He is now, and all that He will be forever.

As we enter into the blog about this particular Fruit of the Spirit, it seems important to note that none of the other fruits would be possible if it were not for the constant faithfulness of the Lord. Thinking about the Fruits we have already gone through: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness, it is clear that these fruits are the result of the faithfulness the Lord has so evidently shown. We are only able to love because He first loved us. We are only able to have peace because He is our peace. And we are only able to be faithful because He has first been faithful to us.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

I personally have many testaments to the Lord's faithfulness in my life, how He continues to show up in seasons that I didn't even think He could be found. A way that the Lord has shown faithfulness in my life is through consistently providing me with job opportunities, even when options are slim and my experience is small. He opens up doors that not only grow me closer to Him, but also expand the Kingdom in ways that I could not imagine on my own. Looking back, I can see that every opportunity came exactly when I needed it to, and I have confidence that He will continue to provide in the same way going forward. He is constant and faithful.

But here's the thing: my story is only one small example. The Lord's faithfulness has been woven throughout the entire Bible.

After the flood, the Lord made a covenant with Noah. In Genesis 9:11, He says,

"Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

Imagine what Noah must have felt after forty days and forty nights on the ark, stepping into a world that looked completely different than the one he had left behind. Yet the Lord did exactly what He said He would do. He established His covenant with Noah and placed the rainbow in the sky as a reminder of His promise. Even today, every rainbow is a reminder that the Lord keeps His word.

The Lord was also faithful to Abraham and Sarah through decades of longing for a child. God promised Abraham that he would become the father of a great nation, but it wasn't until twenty-five years later that Isaac was born. There had to be moments where Abraham and Sarah wondered if God had forgotten His promise. But He hadn't.

We hear a testament about Abraham and Sarah’s story in the New Testament. "Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised." (Romans 4:20-21). The Lord proved that He is faithful, even when His timing does not match ours. 

Throughout the Old Testament, there is proof after proof of the Lord remaining faithful to Israel, despite them rebelling over and over again.

We see this in Exodus 32-34, when the Israelites create a golden calf to worship because they are growing impatient with Moses while he is on Mount Sinai receiving the Law. They turn away from the very God who had just rescued them from Egypt. God disciplines them, but He does not abandon them. Instead, He renews His covenant with His people and continues leading them.

We see this again in Numbers 13-14, when the people refuse to trust God and even begin talking about returning to Egypt. Because of their unbelief, they wander in the wilderness for forty years. Even so, God continues to provide manna from heaven, water in the desert, guidance through the pillar of cloud and fire, and His presence. Even in discipline, the Lord remained faithful.

Then we come to the book of Judges, where we see the same heartbreaking cycle happen over and over again:

• Israel follows God.

• Israel turns to idols.

• God allows oppression.

• Israel cries out.

• God raises up a judge to rescue them.

I remember when I read Judges for one of my college courses, I thought that it was incredibly repetitive. I quickly learned that this is a testament of  how even when Israel continued to turn way, God continued to pursue them.

We could continue to look at so many more examples of the way that the Lord reveals His faithfulness throughout the Old Testament, but I would recommend that you go read them for yourself. Otherwise, this blog could end up being about fifty pages long.

The final example I want to look at is the greatest one of all: how the Lord fulfilled His promise by giving the world a Savior, Jesus Christ.

From the very beginning of Scripture, God made a promise that He would send a Savior. Although thousands of years passed, kingdoms rose, fell, and rose again, and His people repeatedly turned away from Him, God never forgot His word. His faithfulness is seen not only in what He said, but in the fact that He fulfilled it.

The very first mention of a coming Savior is found in Genesis 3:15, right after Adam and Eve sinned. Even in the middle of humanity's first failure, God was already offering hope, and planting the seeds for redemption.

From there, the Lord continued to remind His people of His promise.

He promised Abraham that through his family all nations would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).

He promised David that one of his descendants would reign forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16).

Through prophet after prophet, He continued pointing His people toward the coming Messiah.

But then, there was silence. 

For around four hundred years after the last Old Testament prophet, God's people waited. They didn't hear another prophetic message from the Lord. I cannot imagine how hard that waiting must have been, knowing that God had promised something greater but not knowing if, or when, that time would come. If I were in their shoes, I may have lost hope, wondering why God seemed so absent.

But in that silence, the Lord had not forgotten.

When the time was right, God sent His Son.

Galatians 4:4-5 says: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son."

Jesus was the fulfillment of a promise that had been unfolding since Genesis.

Sometimes we ask, "How do I know God is faithful?" God giving the world His son and Him dying on the cross for us proves His faithfulness. God doesn't just make promises. He fulfills them.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:20, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ."

Every promise God made throughout Scripture points to Jesus. If God kept His greatest promise, the promise of a Savior, then we can trust Him with every promise He has made to us.

Because He was faithful then, we can believe He will be faithful now. He is faithful when we wonder if He hears our prayers. He is faithful when life doesn’t unfold the way we expected. He is faithful when we are waiting and He seems silent. 

We can remember that God's silence has never meant absence, and His delays have never meant He has forgotten us. God’s faithfulness never wavers.

Now, what does this mean for us? We must remain faithful to the Lord of history. There are some ways that we can emulate the faithfulness God shows his people in the way that we follow Him. Some ways we can do this in our daily lives is reading scripture, praying, and being in community. These small, consistent acts of being faithful to the Lord may seem small, but they grow us to be able to take on the larger challenges we will face. We also must remember that no matter whether we win or lose in this life, we must choose faith in the Lord. 

As we seek to grow in the fruit of faithfulness, we cannot forget where it begins.  It begins with a God who has never broken a promise, never abandoned His people, and never failed to do exactly what He said He would do. The more we know His faithfulness, the more our own lives will begin to reflect it.

Father,

Thank You for Your unfailing faithfulness. Thank You for always keeping Your promises, even when we cannot see what You're doing. Help us to trust You in every season, remembering that You are always working for our good and Your glory. As we grow closer to You, let the Holy Spirit produce the fruit of faithfulness in our lives so that we may reflect Your love to those around us.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.