Been Faithful
In Galatians 5:22-23, the apostle Paul gives us a powerful list of spiritual elements to grow in. Today let’s stop and briefly explore the seventh one listed: faithfulness.
In different Bible versions it is variously translated as “faith,” “faithfulness” and “fidelity.”
The Greek word can be used to describe a person who is faithful to his or her word and promises—someone who can be trusted and is reliable.
Albert Barnes’ commentary adds this: “The Christian is faithful as a man; faithful as a neighbor, friend, father, husband, son. He is faithful to his contracts; faithful to his promises.” He goes on to add that if we are not faithful in every aspect of life, then our claims of being Christian and living under the influence of God’s Holy Spirit are “deceitful and vain.”
Two or three generations ago, it seems more emphasis was placed on people being true to their word. In fact, it was a point of honor for a man to be known as “a man of his word.” It meant if he said it, he would do it, barring extraordinary circumstances.
Because you could trust such a man or woman, many business transactions—buying or selling livestock, corn or hay, or even buying a used truck—were handshake deals. No written contract filled with legalese. Just an agreement between two people. And when they agreed, their word was binding.
We all know this is generally not the case today. A while back I was looking into ordering an auto part from an online source that claimed to provide a written guarantee and even a five-year warranty! The trouble was, when I dug a little further and looked at customer reviews, the comments were terrible. Customer after customer complained about getting faulty parts or not getting the part at all yet being charged for it.
Almost universally, they complained about terrible customer service and never getting an exchange, refund or warranty coverage at all.
As that example shows, even with things in writing, people now are often not true to their word—they are not faithful!
What about you and me? Are we men and women of our word?
A few years back, I read a blog post on this topic written by Samantha Barnett. She commented on how important keeping your word is in the Jewish culture.
She pointed out something we all should recognize: “In Jewish thought, keeping your word is important. In fact, Judaism is based on a verbal agreement between G-d and the Jewish people. We are the people of the covenant. Furthermore, every word of Torah has a purpose” (“Keeping Your Word”).
When you and I make a promise, how earnest are we about making sure that promise is kept? Have you ever been told someone would “call you back tomorrow,” only to find no one does? And more to the point, are we ever guilty of promising to “call back tomorrow” and then failing to do so?
In our culture today people often say what seems to be expedient at the moment, but have no real intention of following through. Many people don’t understand, or don’t care about, being faithful.
In the same blog post I mentioned a moment ago, Ms. Barnett said, “Judaism teaches that our mouths are holy vessels. That is why we must be careful how we use them.”
This point is especially true when it comes to commitments and promises. To illustrate the power words can have, she went on to remind her readers that it was simply through the power of His words that God created all that exists. He spoke, and it was done! Our loving God is most definitely a “Man” of His word!
There are many promises most of us have made, and the way we live by those promises reveals something about the level of faithful character we possess. To point out just a few:
Marriage: We spoke or verbally agreed to our wedding vows. Only under the direst of circumstances should those vows ever be broken, yet millions of people break them every day by carelessness, callousness and various forms of sin.
Doing an honest day’s work for a day’s pay: When we go to work or clock in, do we give our employer full effort for the entire day? It can be easy to slack off, give partial effort or spend work time scrolling through social media rather than being productive.
Fidelity to God: At baptism we agree to bury the “old man” (Romans 6:1-6), which means we agree to give up our sinful human impulses and strive to live fully as God commands.
I’m sure we could come up with an extensive list of commitments we could add to these three points—agreeing to help with a service project, signing up for a club or activity, agreeing to handle a specific responsibility, etc.
Every one of these commitments is a window for you and me to look more deeply into our lives. Are we faithful to our promises, or are we typically just ready with an excuse when we don’t follow through? Either way, it tells us something important about the state of our character.
Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22 that having and using God’s Spirit will produce in us the character aspect of faithfulness. If we are living Christianity, we should be known as men and women of our word.
Like many people a few generations back, our word should be our bond. Our promise should be as ironclad as any contract ever devised by a vaunted legal mind.