I have been teaching through the fruit of the Spirit with our students on Wednesday nights. Each week has challenged me personally and I have enjoyed digging into the depths of each fruit. I have been teaching through the fruit because I believe that every Christian should not be so in name only, but we should each be a Christian by the way we live our lives. The fruit of the Spirit should each be evident in our lives.
Each week and each fruit has stretched me, but this week in particular has done an inspiring work inside of me as I taught on the fruit of faithfulness.
What exactly is faithfulness? Faithfulness hinges upon what we consider as valuable or important and then we combine that with our commitment. As humans, we have this incredible ability to "get behind" and be faithful to those things that we consider important. Things such as relationships, our studies, our athletic teams, our employer or even the food we eat. The question that I want to ask in this blog is, are you faithful to God?
God is faithful to us. He has proven his faithfulness to us in so many ways. Deuteronomy 7:9 says, "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands." God is a faithful God. He promised to save His people from their sins and Jesus came and did that. He is faithful.
The question is, are we faithful to God? At the end of the gospel of John in chapter 21, we read the account of Jesus asking Peter if he was faithful. This is the Peter who walked on water. This is the Peter who denied Jesus three times, after Jesus predicted he would do so. Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. He was asking if Peter's commitment was walking hand in hand with what he valued. Jesus didn't want to just be a part of Peter's life, Jesus wanted to literally be his life.
Faithfulness in our walk with Christ means that we love Jesus above all. As a Christian and disciple, God calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. Jesus says that we must be willing to give up everything in order to follow Him.
I don't think I've ever mentioned this in my blog, but I really love my wife. I would do anything for my wife. I value her and am committed to her. I strive to be faithful in my relationship with her in keeping my vows in our marriage. If I all of a sudden committed adultery or was looking at pornography, she would question my faithfulness to say the least. If we claim to follow Jesus and yet are unfaithful to Him by putting other things before Him, we set ourselves up for a broken relationship. Our walk with Jesus deserves the same devotion that it takes for a marriage to work.
As a follower of Christ, Jesus wants to transform every area of our lives. When Jesus takes His rightful place in your life, then the rest of life will flow from that. You will be a better family member with Jesus first. You will be a better employee with Jesus first. You will be a better student with Jesus first. You will be a better athlete with Jesus first. Your whole life will improve with Jesus first.
When others observe our lives, will they find us faithful in our commitment to Jesus? May God empower us by His Spirit to be tenacious in our walks.
