Galatians [5:22] “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
These days it seems that for every occupation or activity of life you must be licensed. People begin to raise eyebrows when I tell them that I cut my husband’s hair because I’m not a licensed hair dresser. Maybe that’s why his hair is getting thinner! So now that I am digging deep into this verse and beginning to use Greek words, there may be eyebrows raised because I’m not a licensed minister either. Nevertheless, that has not stopped me yet.
To define what is meant in this verse by Faithfulness I did go to the Greek to be very sure of the real meaning of the word. The Greek word is Pistis which means Persuade or Persuasion, Belief or Confidence. Remembering that we are talking about the Fruit of the Spirit, I am concluding that to be full of Faithfulness would be to be 100% confident in our Faith in God. To be Full of Faith. Not one shred of doubt or questioning. The extreme opposite of this would be No Belief or No Commitment or maybe even further than that to work to cause others not to believe, to Disbelieve so strongly that you actively work against Belief.
When we accept Christ and become a Christian, the Holy Spirit is deposited into us. As we grow stronger, this fruit of the Spirit begins to show. We don’t start out as Christians having a strong Faith. This grows as we walk more closely with God. What evidence can we look for in our lives that our Faith is not all that it should be? What about constantly worrying about the future? Not having confidence that God has a plan for us. Not sharing what we believe with other people because it doesn’t feel very real to us. This part of the fruit is sometimes preached very differently. Used as a proof text for why we should be at church more or give more. Or it is used by some to say that we are not responsible for our faith. That God just chooses who He wants and then puts faith into those select ones. The same word, Pistis, is used in the verse which says “Faith comes by hearing.” (Romans [10:17]) and Jesus used it in Luke 17:6 when He talked about having Faith the size of a grain of mustard seed. I like to think of Faith as a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. If you don’t use it, it atrophies and becomes weak, but the muscle is still there. Let’s exercise our Faith today and watch it grow!
As we head into the Thanksgiving Holiday it is a privilege to bring to you this opportunity for self-reflection. This series of devotions are written by Harriet Bowman and allow for us to consider the work of God’s Spirit in our lives.