The sixth fruit that flows out of God's love is called "faithfulness". Someone has described faithfulness as "love's quantity". "Quantity" is a very important word. For instance, if a doctor gives you "too much quantity" of medicine, it could cause harm to your body, or even kill you. If that same doctor gives you "too little quantity" of medicine, it will not be able to have the needed effect to make you better. Quantity speaks of the measurable whole, the body of, or amount of. Faithfulness is the quantity that makes up love. In fact, faithfulness always presupposes God's love. (Ps. 36:5; 89:1-2)
In the Old Testament, the word for faithfulness (emunah) means certainty, reliable, dependable. It is synonymous to the word righteousness (Is. 11:5), loving kindness (Ps. 98:3), and justice (Jer. 5:1). Men are called to show themselves "faithful" in their relationship with God Himself (2 Chr. 19:9). And by being faithful, they are displaying their love for God. In the New Testament, the word faith (pistis) is a foundational word. Faithfulness speaks of one's loyal trust in God, or ones steadfast and constant walk before God and man. The word "faithfulness" is a manifestation of God's saving grace in one's life. Faithfulness grows out of one's saving faith. As James 2:17 teaches, "When we have faith in God, we will act in faithful ways toward God and man." As we learn to put all of our faith in a faithful God, then our lives will be less filled with stress. Until next time, keep walking close to Christ.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment