Faith is a gift and a virtue, but faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit. This daily devotional looks at how it is a reward for our faith in God.
Nuggets
- While the world is temporary, what we put our faith in is eternal.
- We are to be faithful to God and mankind.
- It is important that we make a conscious decision to choose God, even if we do not understand everything.
- We are to be faithful to God by following His Will.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Fruit of the Spirit from the Inside Out series
I am going to say right up front. I don’t think any of the few sermons I found did a good job of explaining why faithfulness was a fruit of the Spirit. They did okay at saying what it was, but really didn’t take it much deeper than that.
Let’s see what we can piece together.
Let's Put It into Context #1
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things” (Gal. 5: 22-23 CSB)
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
Manning told us about goodness. He wrote, “Faith means veracity, so that a man’s word is as good as an oath.”
Resource
Faith as a Fruit of the Spirit
While the world is temporary, what we put our faith in is eternal.
We often think about faith as “… the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11: 1 ESV). Assurance is also translated as confidence and reality. Conviction is translated as evidence and proof.
We think about the hope as applying to what is coming in the future.
How often do we think about faith in regards to what is happening in the present? Murray noted, “But while the substance of things may remain, yet the fashion of things is continually passing away.”
Resource
This world is only temporary. “… Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them” (Rev. 20: 11 CSB).
That doesn’t mean everything will stay the same until that day comes. Kids still grow up and move on to have lives of their own. Loved ones die. We get a different job — willingly or not so willingly.
Change is inevitable.
Ooo, baby. We are not good at change!
We don’t have to be good at change. We just have to focus on God.
I think what Murray was trying to say is we have to grow our faith until it is indestructible. It has to encompass our whole life down to our very souls.
Murray made a great observation. He wrote, “By nature we are His children.”
While I have trouble with Murray calling everyone children of God, I see what he is getting at.
- “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (Jn. 1: 12 ESV).
- “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness …” (Gen. 1: 26 CSB).
It is something we talked about before. The worldview people are also made in God’s image. Disciples are children of God because of faith.
Glossary
What I think Murray’s point was, we all have the capacity to have faith. In another devotion somewhere, someone said we all have the desire to have a relationship with God.
It is just — what are we going to do about it? We have to make a decision to have faith in God.
Once we do that, we start on the Sanctification Road where we grow our faith.
- Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration, gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal requickening in us that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- The perfected state indicates the combination of the spiritual graces which, when all are present, form spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Yes, we grow our faith. Faith will begat more faith. So, in other words, our faith is rewarded with more faith.
On Faith
We are to be faithful to God and mankind.
Thornton went into what all being faithful means. Obviously, it means we are faithful to God. But what does that mean?
- Performing the service to which He calls us though genuine devotion.
- Unconditional obedience to His Will.
- Following the laws and commandments without trying to rewrite them.
Resource
Next, Thornton said that we should be faithful to our fellow mankind.
- This includes being truthful. “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another” (Eph. 4: 25 ESV).
- This includes being equitable in our actions. Equitable does not always mean the same. It means fair.
- We must be dependable in all that we do.
- We have to live the life that entails.
Faith
It is important that we make a conscious decision to choose God, even if we do not understand everything.
Beecher gave a good definition of what faith is. He wrote it “is sanctified imagination; it is having the horizon above the world; it is believing that there are things that have no mortal forms, in a future, in a whole assembly of intelligence above your head; it is having a life hereafter, a greater life than this.”
Lynch called it the most complex and comprehensive task of reason.
Resource
To me, that means that, though it may be the hardest, it is the most important exercise we will ever take. We’ve got to make a conscious decision on whether we are going to submit to God or not.
We will not always understand God’s ways because they are higher than we are. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55: 8-9 ESV).
But we aren’t supposed to understand everything. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Prov. 3: 5 ESV).
We have to depend on God.
A Life of Truth
We are to be faithful to God by following His Will.
Newbolt told us to who and what we are faithful. He wrote, “The spiritual man is faithful — faithful to his God, to his work, to himself. The life of faithfulness is a life of truth.”
Resource
We do this by keeping on the narrow path which leads to the narrow gate.
Glossary
Newbolt told us how to do this.
- Repent from evil.
- Believe in God
- Submit to His Will for our lives
Faith is a gift. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2: 8 ESV emphasis added).
Making the Connections
Thornton told us the importance of having faithfulness that is a necessary.
Resource
We remember that faith is the only way through which we will gain salvation.
- Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart. Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
Glossary
How Do We Apply This?
- Examine our relationship with God to ensure it is where it is supposed to be.
- Work to know when Satan is tempting us.
- Carry on all of this through dependence on His grace.
Resource
Father God. We praise Your name. We thank You for the gift of faith, and we thank You for the reward of faith when we exhibit our faith in You. Lord, it all comes from You. Amen.
What do you think?
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