Do you remember the story of Job? He lost everything--his wealth, his health, and even his children, but "In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong." (Job 1:22 ESV) Even though everything was taken away from him, he was still faithful to God.
The next Fruit of the Spirit that we are going to look at is faithfulness. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (or patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."(Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV, parenthesis and emphasis mine)
1 Corinthians 4:2 says, "Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful." A steward is a representative of a ruling monarch. In the case of Paul's writing in this verse, a steward is a representative of God, which means Christians. It is required that Christians be faithful in all that they do.
So what is faithfulness? Faithfulness is being trustworthy, loyal, or steadfast. No matter what happens, a faithful person is still loyal. Many times we get angry at God or feel hurt by Him when bad things happen. God does not want us to do this, he wants us to respond by faithfully trusting that He knows what is best for us. He wants us to remain loyal to Him in the bad times and allow Him to do something good in our lives through the sorrow. Check out these verses that talk about faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Psalm 36:5
"Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds."
Revelation 19:11
"Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war."
These verses tell us that God is faithful and His faithfulness is great. We are reminded in Hebrews 13 that God has promised to "never leave you nor forsake you." In a day and time when it is difficult to find anyone that you can trust, isn't it comforting to know that God is ever-faithful? I believe we have mentioned it before, but Christians are supposed to be reflecting the image and character of God, so that means that we are to be faithful--loyal, steadfast, trustworthy--in all that we do, not just in our relationship with Christ, but also as we relate to one another.
