The Fruit of Faithfulness

Faithfulness. It seems pretty straight forward. While it is not always practiced, it is generally seen as something that is important in all relationships. The actual definition of faithfulness as used in the New Testament is: conviction of truth (belief) regarding our relationship with God, and includes the idea of trust and fervor, which brings confidence. It also has a note of fidelity, (character of one who can be relied on). Matthew Henry defines it as: “fidelity, justice, and honesty, in what we profess and promise to others.” Basically, it just means faith and loyalty. Does that really require the Spirit? Isn’t faith something that happens when we believe, something we have or exercise ourselves?

In actuality, faith is a gift of God just like grace. We do not have the capability to have faith or believe in God on our own. In order to have faith in God, we must have the faith of God. He has to give us His faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Grace is of course a gift, but so is faith. If we had or generated faith on our own to believe, then we would have something to boast about, but there is nothing good in ourselves, so any faith we could contrive on our own would be no better than anything else, it would not be worthy of God.

John 6:44 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

I am not going to debate free will and predestination. The point is that we cannot have faith without God. He gives it to us and that is why it is a fruit of the Spirit. Once we have faith, it grows and becomes stronger, but again only through the Spirit.

As seen in the definition of faithfulness, it requires trust in and fervor for God. There is belief without faith (even the demons believe but they have no faith) so we must be sure that our faith is a true, saving, transforming faith, and not one of knowledge only. True faith produces trust in God, and fervor for Him in service and relationship.

Loyalty is another term for faithfulness, but I think it is more of a byproduct of faith rather than a synonym. If we believe in something to the point that we have strong faith in it, that we are passionate about it, then we will be loyal to it. Loyalty is proof of our faith. If a man switches from one football team to another (is not loyal to one), he does not have much faith in any of those football teams. But if he is passionately in favor of one team regardless of their current status, his loyalty shows that he has faith in that team. Faith is being true to what we believe.

In the same way, if we are not passionate about God, if we worry or are dependant on other people or substances for comfort, peace, etc, then we are not loyal to God which reveals our lack of faith. But if we are passionate about God to the extent that we unwaveringly trust in Him and rely on Him for comfort, relief, etc. then we show that we have faith in Him. Our decisions reveal what we believe about God. We need to be “true” to our belief in Him; we need to stick to His truth and not be swayed or compromise.

So where is your loyalty? What do your passions, decisions and trust show about where your faith lies?