P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

In Sickness and In Health, For Better or for Worse

When Orville and Wilbur Wright finally succeeded in keeping their homemade airplane in the air for fifty-nine seconds that day in December 1903, they rushed a telegram to their sister in Dayton, Ohio, telling her of this great accomplishment.

The telegram read, “First sustained flight today fifty-nine seconds. Stop. Hope to be home by Christmas. Stop.” When the sister received the news, she was so excited about the success that she rushed to the newspaper office and gave the telegram to the editor. The next morning, believe it or not, the newspaper headline stated in bold, black letters, “Popular Local Bicycle Merchants to be Home for the Holidays.”

The scoop of the century was missed because an editor missed the point. We may laugh when we hear this story, but many times we’ve missed the point of some Scripture verse because we’ve read it too casually and not let its deep meaning sink into our hearts. This is especially true of the aspect of faith as a Fruit of the Spirit.

There are many different meanings of the word faith. One definition of faith is illustrated by the little girl who climbed a tree instead of coming in for the night when her mother called. She was in the lower branches but couldn’t figure out how to climb down, so she called for her father. Of course, her father came running. It was dark by this time, which added to the little girl’s discomfort. “Daddy, get me down,” she pleaded.
Her father said, “I’m here, just jump.”

“But it’s dark, Daddy, and I can’t see you.”

“Don’t worry, I’m here, just jump. I’ll catch you.”

So the little girl closed her eyes and jumped out into the darkness and, of course, her father caught her and all was well. Faith is believing something even though you can’t see it. And not just believing, but stepping out into the darkness, expecting to be caught up safe and sound.

But the faith listed in Galatians 5:22 as a component of the Fruit of the Spirit means even more. Faith is demonstrated by faithfulness. You see, faith is the root, faithfulness is the fruit. Faith is believing something that we can’t see, and faithfulness is putting that belief into practice. Faithfulness the doing part of faith.

Faithfulness is defined as steadfastness, loyalty, devotedness, tried and true, constantly reliable, unwavering, trustworthy, and steady. It also speaks of endurance, and a firmness of purpose, especially when the going gets tough.

When we have faith in God, we’ll act in faithful ways. As the apostle James wrote in James 2:26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also”(NKJV). Another way of saying the same thing is : As the body without the spirit is dead, just so faith without faithfulness is meaningless.

We had a large pine tree in our back yard. It was a big old tree and it produced many pine needles and sharp, pointy pine cones, which would drop all over our lawn. If you’ve ever had a pine tree in your yard, you know what a nuisance that can be. But the biggest problem with this pine tree was the fact that it was old and brittle, making it dangerous during any kind of storm.

We hired a man to come take the tree down. He cut it down just below the level of the lawn, so we could cover it over with dirt and lay down sod. Today you can’t see where that old tree was, but we know the roots are still there under a large part of our back yard. But without the trunk and branches to manufacture sap, the roots will eventually die and disintegrate.

The Bible says that faith is like the roots of that old pine tree. Unless there’s something going on in our lives with belief in God and right living, faith will die and eventually disintegrate. In a spiritual sense, then, faithfulness is faith with it’s sleeves rolled up.

What does faithfulness look like?

One poignant example of faithfulness comes from discoveries in the city of Pompeii, which was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. While digging through the ancient ruins, archaeologists found the remains of many persons buried in different locations. Some were found in deep basement vaults where they had run for safety. Others were found in attic chambers where they had hidden themselves from the hot lava.

But where did they find the Roman soldier who had been assigned to sentinel duty over the city? They found him still standing at the gate where he had been stationed by his captain, his hands still grasping his spear. There, while the earth shook beneath him, there, while the floods of ashes and cinders overwhelmed him, he had stood and didn’t abandon his post of duty until he was engulfed by the hot, molten rock. And there he was, unearthed after nearly two thousand years.
What a picture of faithfulness, duty, and responsibility. It’s a pity that some people are faithful only to a certain point, but when things are no longer to their advantage, faithfulness is suddenly out the window.

There are many places where Scripture calls us to be faithful. Proverbs 28:20 says, “A faithful man will abound with blessings” (NKJV). Paul writes to the believers in Corinth, “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” (1Corinthians 4:2 NKJV). Jesus said, through the apostle John in Revelation 2:10, “Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life.” (NKJV).

When we have the fruit of faithfulness, we’ll be reliable. A reliable person can be entrusted with responsibility. Every employer, every supervisor, every foreman has some employees they can trust with an important job and some they can’t. It goes without saying that a dependable person is more likely to receive more recognition and responsibility.

A person who is reliable is also honest. Sad to say, many employees are not only unreliable, they’re down-right dishonest. Not long ago I read a report that said between 30 and 80 percent of job applications contain lies and exaggerations. Not only that, several studies estimate employee theft and dishonesty costs U.S. businesses between $60 billion and $120 billion a year, and that’s not including the billions spent on protecting against theft.

It’s no wonder the apostle Paul admonishes us in Philippians 2:15 (NKJV) to “…become blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Yes, those who have the fruit of faithfulness are just that, lights shining in an otherwise crooked and perverse society.
Another quality of faithfulness is loyalty. Loyalty simply means faithfulness in relationships. It means that we don’t let difficulties or inconveniences spoil a committed relationship we have with another person. Maybe our friendship with a particular individual or group causes us embarrassment, even persecution. But we won’t turn our back on the other person.

I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of hearing a friend or relative criticized unfairly. How do we respond? Do we listen to the accusations in silence, which gives the impression we agree with them? Do we simply walk away and wish we hadn’t heard? One way to be loyal in such a situation is to say, “Wait a minute. That person is a good friend of mine. I know he’s not perfect, but I don’t see any point in criticizing him when he’s not here to tell his side of the story.”

It’s not hard to see that loyalty requires courage. If we’re going to be loyal, we need to be willing to risk a little embarrassment.

Do you remember how the marriage vow goes? For some of you who are listening, you may have made that vow years ago. For others, it may have been only recently. Of all the human relationships that we forge, marriage is the most important. From marriage comes the family, and providing training and nurture to children requires that both parents be loyal to their marriage commitment.

Unfaithfulness to the marriage vow is increasing. I read recently that a person is more likely to renege on his marriage than he is on his mortgage. Friend, I believe that one of the greatest needs of society, and even more so the church, is that we be faithful to our marriage commitment.
And finally, the most important relationship in which we must be faithful is our relationship with the Lord. The Lord takes a lot of abuse from people. And, as you may have already discovered, sticking up for Him in a conversation may open us up to ridicule. The Bible warns us that there will be times when some of us will encounter open opposition and even persecution for being loyal to Christ.

But we shouldn’t be afraid or give up being faithful. Listen to this promise in Revelation 2:10: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (NKJV).

As the fruit of faithfulness grows to maturity in our lives, the Holy Spirit will make us people who stand firm in our convictions, in our responsibilities, and in our relationships. He wants us to reflect His image. And what is God like? God is unmovable and unchangeable. He is solid as a rock. Friend, our God is faithful. And, with the Fruit of the Spirit and by His grace and power, we’ll be faithful, too.

This is Lonnie Melashenko reminding you that it’s always true, God loves you.