Fruit - FAITHFULNESS

In continuing with the list of fruits, the next one is faithfulness. This is having true loyalty and keeping your promises and being trustworthy. So who are we to be loyal to and who are we to keep our promises to?

We are to be loyal and trustworthy to all. We are to keep the promises we make to those we make them to. We are to hold our words to be true to anyone we talk to or interact with. There is nothing worse than being known as a liar or someone who can't hold true to their promises. Now, if someone gets sick and can't help you when they promised to....that's a different story. This state of faithfulness is a way of life. We should be known as people that can be counted on and when we say we will be there, we need to be.

Think about the people in your life who are faithful to you. Your parents, siblings, spouse, kids, friends, church family, manager.......I'm sure we could list a lot of people and everyone's list wouldn't be the same, yet we all have those we can count on, no matter what.

The most faithful person to me is my husband. He and I have been married for 20 years....almost 21 now, and we have our share of moments.....good and not so good. Through the years of raising our kids, church life, regular everyday life, stress, love, sickness, death, jobs, time.....he has always been faithful to me. I remember a time when I was in line to move up in the job I had, to be a manager. I was very comfortable in that job and didn't want to branch out and move on.....so when the job became available, I got my interview. Turns out, I wasn't the best candidate for that job. When I told my husband I didn't get the job, he told me it's time to move on.....that God had another path for me. He comforted me and helped me see I could do it. I could step out of my comfort zone to move to other avenues. He was faithful to me in that situation just by listening and being there. As a result I went to school and have a job I absolutely love now! 
Years earlier......when I was a brand new Christian, our church had VBS. My husband signed us up to teach a class for the week! I asked him if he was crazy.....he said "no, we will be a team and be just fine". So I figured I would let him do all the talking and teaching, as I was shy back then and had no interest in doing any planning or speaking. I would be the silent helper to him. This particular VBS was nice in that you had the same lesson every night and the kids rotated to new adventures each night. One night half way through the week, my husband gets sick. I was going to not go as well (remember I was the silent helper).....but he encouraged me to go and do it anyway, that I had this and knew the lessons backward and front.  I didn't think I was able. I didn't feel adequate. I needed him......but he knew better. I didn't NEED him like I thought I did. He was faithful to me and encouraged me to go do what needed to be done in his absence. He didn't let me quit. God knew in that moment what he was preparing me to do. As a result of that week of teaching VBS, my husband and I moved on to teach youth and Sunday school.

Yes, we are called to be faithful to each other, but we need to be faithful to our God.....always. Reading and studying His Word, following His commands, making disciples, loving Him and our neighbor, living a holy life......all these things are faithfulness we can show our God. He is faithful to us ALL the TIME. We read in His word how He always keeps His promises. The rainbow in the sky after a nice storm is a symbol of the promise He made to Noah all those years ago. Our God is faithful in that once we accept Jesus and take Him as our Savior, we are untied with Him. We will be in glory one day with Him. We are never snatched out of our Father's hand. We are true children of the living God. All these faithful promises are ours when we trust Him. He loves us and is always faithful.....in turn, we need to be faithful too.