When Tom and I married, he stumbled over the word “faithful” in our wedding vows (to be my faithful husband). There were snickers from the guests in the pews and I, myself, had to hold my giggles. Almost every toast mentioned faithful and all of Tom’s friends teased him about his Freudian slip at the reception afterwards. To this day, it’s the one thing everyone remembers from our wedding and is still a topic of conversation among family and friends. But let me tell you, in all these years of marriage Tom has never done anything to make me doubt his faithfulness to me.
An Element of the Fruit of the Spirit
Now faithfulness is the seventh element of the Fruit of the Spirit. It’s considered the most challenging element to possess because it comes from a place of trust and loyalty. We need to submit to God and realize the need of a Savior who controls our lives. And that’s something a lot of us can’t seem to do.
For a long time now, people have taken a negative view of the word submit. It’s like the word obey. Both words make people feel inferior or second-class. But that’s not it at all. They are signs of respect. For example, everyone follows the laws of the land. Also, workers abide by the rules of their workplace. They are submitting and respecting.
In the same way, we, as Christians, are to submit to God. Does that make you feel inferior? I thought not. We must trust God and remain loyal to Him and His doctrines. We demonstrate our faithfulness to God so that He knows we trust Him and are truly committed to being a part of His family.
Faithfulness to God
Blogger Eddie Foster writes about faithfulness on the website, lifehopeandthetruth.com. He states, “It takes a lot of faithfulness to make an invisible Being and an ancient book the very center of our lives. We must allow our belief and trust in God and the teachings of the Bible to shape our thoughts, speech, and actions toward God and others.”
Our submission comes when we truly believe what the Bible says about God – His existence, His works, and His character. We submit when we believe that God is Who He says He is and continue to believe that despite the erratic and unpredictable changes in our lives. We trust what God says in the Bible and not necessarily what the world, or our own eyes, tell us. Our top priority is seeking the truth in every circumstance.
Allowing Him to control our lives means we trust Him to work out everything for good; His Will will be done in us, through us, and for us. He has our best interest at heart and we are ultimately safe when He is in control.
Growing in Faith and Faithfulness
Finally, how can we grow in faith and faithfulness? Eddie Foster describes three ways.
First, we write a list of reasons we believe the way we believe. If there is an area where we are lacking, we can study, pray, and meditate about those areas.
Also, we need to remember and think about God’s faithfulness in every area of our lives, such as protecting and providing for us, forgiving our sins, promising us all eternal life and His coming Kingdom of peace. Let His faithfulness to us inspire us to be faithful to Him.
Lastly, we make God and other people a priority in our lives. We can do this by making a list of our relationships (spouse, children, parents, God, friends, etc.) and our commitments (marriage, Bible study, prayer, etc.) and then honestly evaluate ourselves on how faithful we have been to each one. Any unfaithful behaviors and practices have to be eliminated from our lives.
Therefore, faithfulness is a total commitment and loyalty to God that is beyond human reasoning. You may believe in God but it takes faithfulness to believe that your life will be changed by His teachings. Faithfulness is ultimately a confidence in God and all that He promises.
Likewise, I have that same confidence in Tom. Even though he stumbled over the word “faithful” I know that he will always love, honor, and cherish me through good and bad times, in sickness and health, until death do us part. He promised that and I trust that he will keep that promise.
We don’t have a perfect marriage but it’s a match made in heaven by God Himself. So why wouldn’t I trust and be faithful to Him? He hasn’t steered me wrong yet.
Maybelle Crabtree signing off
Thanks, Maybelle.