One of the recurring verses that surfaces repeatedly in my life is the verse about the Fruit of the Spirit.
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” – Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
We spoke extensively about love in February. As Spring flourishes before us, I’d like to talk about faithfulness this month.
When I think about faithfulness, I think about the bulbs in my garden that are beginning to bloom. All winter they have laid dormant underground in the dark just waiting for the day to come that their leaves can start peeking through the soil and mulch. I knew they were there yet I did not worry or fret that they wouldn’t bloom. They have always been faithful to return year after year.
The root word in faithfulness is faithful or faith +-ful. When looking up the definition of faith, one of the definitions Merriam-Webster shares is “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.” Being faithful means being loyal, honest, and dutiful. Being faithful means there is an unwavering understanding of devotion, honor, and integrity. Faithfulness is about the reliability in knowing without a doubt that even in your darkest season, God’s promises will bloom from your problems.
Did you catch that? Faithfulness heavily relies upon God. As humans living in a fallen world, our faithfulness is questionable. We can be devout wives, loyal employees, and steadfast mothers. But without the Holy Spirit in our lives, guiding us to remain faithful, we can so very easily give in to Satan‘s lies and deceit.
We cannot remain faithful in life, without affirming our faith in the Lord regularly. The author of Lamentations (believed to be the prophet Jeremiah) wrote the book of the Bible during the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. It is an eyewitness account of the horror of watching your city fall around you and your neighbors being captured and taken into exile. However, right in the middle of the book when the author’s hope has dwindled to next to nothing, he begins speaking about his hope in the Lord’s faithfulness.
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”” – Lamentations 3:22-24 ESV
The author of Lamentations has hope because our God is faithful to us in our good times and in our bad times. God’s love and devotion to us is steadfast and trustworthy.
Sweet friend, have hope in the Lord’s faithfulness today because His steadfast love endures forever. I’m praying for you. Comments and let me know how you can affirm your faith in God this month.
Much love and many hugs,
Julie
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