“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Do you ever find yourself thinking this way?
It’s easy to slip into the mindset of doubt and cynicism. We live in a broken world, and we may have gone through painful experiences that cause us to lose our trust in others.
For this reason, faithfulness, a fruit of the Spirit, can be a challenging trait to possess.
Faithfulness comes from a place of trust and loyalty. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is a confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
As a Christian, it is important to be faithful to God. It is one thing to simply believe in Him, but another to be faithful to Him. When we are truly faithful to God, this shapes the way we live. For example, we are able to be loyal in our relationships here on Earth and truly love others.
Faithfulness requires us to submit our ways to God. It comes from a place of realizing that we are in need of a Savior and that He is in control of our lives.
Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” We are to be faithful to God, because He is faithful to us.
In the Bible, the story of Abraham demonstrates the importance of faithfulness. Abraham and his wife Sarah struggled to trust God, but learned the value of faithfulness when they submitted to Him.
For example, Abraham and Sarah waited many years for God to fulfill His promise of giving them a son. Because of her lack of faith, Sarah insisted upon Hagar, her maid, giving birth to her son. This resulted in pain and conflict. However, when Abraham and Sarah put their faith in God, Sarah was able to give birth to Isaac despite being past childbearing age.
Ultimately, the story of Abraham shows how God blesses those who are faithful and trust in His plans.
So, how do we grow in our faithfulness?
We can grow in our faithfulness by having a personal relationship with Christ. If we are truly faithful to Him and obey His commands, this will be evident in our lives.
My challenge to you is this: Think about the ways you show your faithfulness to God. Are there things that are getting in the way of your faithfulness? What areas of your life have you not given over to Him? Through spending time in prayer, ask God to make these things clear to you, so that He can grow you in your faithfulness.
Grand Canyon University values the spiritual growth of students. To learn more about the ways GCU incorporates a Christian worldview into everything we do, contact us today!
