Are you faithful to Jesus?

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.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

The Lord continues to speak to me about His longing for faithfulness in the lives of His children.  In a previous blog article entitled Lifesong, I addressed the idea of our life being a message to the world.  I want to continue those thoughts here.

Actions speak louder than words. Do you agree with that statement? Everyone can talk a good game, but not everyone can always back it up. I recall a heated argument that developed on a practice putting green, before a multi-school golf tournament, my senior year in high school. Yes, surprisingly enough, there is trash talk that can happen even in the sport of golf. Golf tends to be a gentlemen’s sport and has always been a sport played with an emphasis on etiquette. However, that day on the practice green, all it took was one student telling his opponent that he would out-drive and out-putt him the entire round. This led to a heated exchange. Golf is a game that requires intense concentration and if your mind is elsewhere during your round, you will end up having to take penalty strokes because of poor shots. To make a long story short, this golfer from the other school wasn’t able to back up his talk. He tried to get his opponent thinking negatively, and as a result it backfired and he found himself being negatively affected by his words.

In my experience as a pastor, I have come across so many people who settle for spiritual mediocrity. These people have a lot of head knowledge but it doesn’t bring life transformation. These people have trusted Jesus as their Savior and it seems they have done so only to avoid an eternity in hell. They attend church on Sunday or youth group on Wednesday night; they may even interact and answer questions about faith and Scriptures. But, when it comes to Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and the weekends, they run their life on their own. Their lives are no different than those who have yet to trust Jesus. Their mouths pour out lies or profanity. Their computers are filled with garbage. Their social media accounts are used as a place to air their dirty laundry. Their lifestyle is camouflaged because they want to fit in with the world.

This last year, the Lord has spoken to me about the importance of godly character. Jesus, in Matthew 5:13-16, calls His followers to be salt and light. Our character is what enables us to be salt and light. Our culture is full of darkness and only we have the ability to bring the light of Jesus. Salt prevents decay. Our culture is decaying with immorality, greed, and pride. It’s only as we become salt, that we can prevent the decay that is happening all around us.

This fall, I am teaching our youth about the Fruit of the Spirit. I have sensed a need to define what a follower of Jesus looks like. We have studied the last part of Galatians 5. There is a battle going on for each of our hearts/souls. It is a battle between our sinful natures and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The enemy wants nothing more than for us to believe his lies and fall into sin. However, as we trust Jesus, the Holy Spirit wants to work through the Word of God to sensitize us to the character qualities of Jesus. Each Wednesday night, we are looking at a different fruit of the Spirit. These fruit are not optional. Fruit are not like spiritual gifts. A follower of Christ may only have one spiritual gift. However, each of us should strive to display each and every fruit.

The first of the nine fruit mentioned in Paul’s list in Galatians 5 is love. Love should be at the center of all we do and all we say. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” This is simply because love should be the igniter for all the other fruit. We can experience joy because of love. We can live at peace because of love. We can be patient because of love. We are kind because of love. We enjoy goodness because of love. We are full of faith because of love. We are gentle because of love. We can be self-controlled because of love. Love is what defines God and if we are followers of Christ, love will be at the center of all we do. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” May the Spirit of God empower each of us to live for Jesus each and every day. May we be known as those who don’t just talk the talk, but we walk the walk!