The Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness

Galatians 5:22-23

Aww man! Just look at that. Doesn't that look good. If you don't like oranges and orange juice, we cannot be friends. I'm just kidding. In all seriousness though, I love orange juice. My wife does not buy it often because I will drink a whole carton in a day. She tells me I do not need that much sugar, but boy is it good. There is nothing like waking up to a glass or real orange juice (with coffee of course) to start my day. I can depend on it to bring a smile to my face, quench my thirst, and just be good. Unless, it is a bad brand or a bad harvest. Then, what should be sweet and refreshing becomes bitter and revolting.

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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22–23

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As Christians, people should be able to depend on us. One of the fruits of the Spirit is faithfulness. If we tell someone we are going to do something or be somewhere, if it is at all humanly possible, we should do what we said we would do. Unfortunately, most of us do not feel like we know many people that we would call dependable.

Not only should people find us dependable, but we should be dependable to God as well. Someone will say, "God is God. He does not need me". No, He does not need us, but we should still be faithful to Him because He is faithful to us. What if He kept His word about salvation like some of us keep our word? What if God said, "I'll get you to heaven, Lord willing and the creek don't rise" knowing good and well He did not intend on doing what He said? God is faithful to us, and we should be faithful to Him.

We should also be faithful to our church. This is more than just showing up to the services. Are we working in the church? It takes all of us doing the work of the church for it to function as God intended it. I'm not saying you have to hold a position, but there is still work. Can you imagine a home in which the people only came home once or twice a month, and when they did come home, all they did was sit on the couch until they left again? What kind of family would that be? The home would be dirty. The pets would die. No one would cook. The yard would be overgrown. It would be a wreck. Yet, that is exactly how many people want to treat church. Don't engage or interact. Don't help care for the facility. Don't share the gospel so that the church grows. Just come sit a couple of times a month and get out.

The more we walk in the Spirit, and He produces the fruit of faithfulness in our lives, the more time we will want to spend with God and His people, the more involved we will want to be. We don't have to do everything, but we will do something. We will want people to know how great our God is and how great our church is. Apathy about God and the church is a good indication that there is no fruit of faithfulness in your life. Just as God is faithful to us, we should be faithful to Him.

Father, it is so easy to say that we are going to do something, and then back out at the last minute. We can make all kinds of excuses to not do something. Thank You for being faithful. We are so grateful that Jesus did not say, "Yes I will go to the cross" and then just before change His mind. He was faithful even when it cost Him greatly.