Faithfulness. Faithfulness can be interpreted in multiple ways. It is commonly thought of as devotion, such as our devotion to God or a dog being a faithful companion to a person. However, this is not the faithfulness intended here. Galatians 5 intends that this faithfulness be found in the person on whom others can rely. It is found in the Lord’s character in Deuteronomy 7:9. It is difficult to rely on someone who is dishonest or is a thief. Each time they get close enough to you, they strike out to hurt you or take something from you. A faithful person is one that can be relied on, a person who is trustworthy.
This type of character found in the Lord can be seen in Isaiah 39:8, “Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.’ For he thought, ‘For there will be peace and truth in my days.’” If the Lord is good, then we can trust (have faith) that there will be peace and truth. The Lord’s character is reliable and consistent.
Jesus is reliable because every time we need Him He is there. Some of our friends are not reliable because they only want to take something from us and have no interest in helping us in return. I demonstrated this type of consistent character with children one time by having them smash fruit and vegetables. Each child brought an item (a grape, tomato, etc.) and smashed it or squished it on the ground. After each smash and squish, we all gathered around to see if grape juice came from the grapes and tomato juice came from the tomatoes. In each case, the type of juice which squeezed out matched the fruit or vegetable we squished. We could depend on the fruits and vegetables to yield the juices that corresponded with the type of fruit or vegetable we had squished.
We come to expect that oranges yield orange juice, grapes yield grape juice and tomatoes yield tomato juice. Not one of us thinks twice about this. In the same way, when a person of good, kind and loving character is squeezed, we can trust (have faith) that goodness, kindness and love will come out.
Deuteronomy 7:9 reads, “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” The Lord is faithful to keep His covenant and show His lovingkindness to us (who keep His commandments and love Him). We can depend on Him. Can others depend on you?
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