“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith...” Galatians 5:22
The study that I have been doing about the fruits of the Spirit brought up how faith and faithfulness relate to each other. It said that: “Faith is that indefinable power, a gift from God, through which we can believe in a reality that yet remains unseen (Hebrews 11:1). Faithfulness, in contrast, is the working out of this inner-belief system... Acts of faithfulness are a demonstration of our faith...”
I have to put such long thoughts into a practical scenario in order to grasp what is being said. These are some of the illustrations I thought of:
A dog is known to be a “faithful” companion. I visited a lady recently admitted to a nursing home. Her husband told me how her dogs stayed awake all night, that first night she was away. The dogs faith (trust) that their master would come home as usual, was demonstrated by their faithful vigil.
One of the most faithful volunteers I have ever met is Larry. He works every single day at a soup kitchen. His dependability, or faithful service, comes from his deep belief that this service is needed. You see, he is without family, has a mental disability, and lives in a house that has a tree in the living room (it crashed through the roof in a storm and the house was already condemned so insurance won’t help repair it). His belief, that our society has needs, is demonstrated by his faithful service.
My Grandma Minikus was a faithful wife. Even though my Grandpa became an alcoholic... Grandma would not leave him. She told me that she believed he was worthy of her care and that someday he would come around and let God rescue him. After many years, he did! Grandma’s belief in God’s power to rescue and her belief that Grandpa was worthy of her care was demonstrated in her faithfulness all those years.
If I want to be a faithful person - dependable, honest, loyal, steadfast - I must have faith. I have to believe before I can live out a belief. Our faithfulness comes from ~ faith.
How does one get such faith? Like all the other fruits we have been studying, faith is a production of the Holy Spirit.
As I think back, I see that my faith in God has not come suddenly. And I don’t trust God because of someone’s teaching, preaching, or speeching. Rather it has been God’s own faithfulness to me, day by day, that has caused me to trust Him. Faith comes from ~ His faithfulness.
Our faithfulness comes from faith which comes from His faithfulness.
The song below has put words to my experience with God’s faithfulness. I’m sure you will find it to be true for you too!
