The Spiritual Fruit Bowl: Understanding the Fruit of the Spirit -- Part 9: Faithfulness

Welcome to part nine of this series on the fruit of the Spirit. If you remember my previous post, I began a mini series within "The Spiritual Fruit Bowl" on faithfulness. Here's a quick review: We first looked at what faith is. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible." (Hebrews 11:1-3) We then looked at Hebrews 11. Now we're going to go a bit more in depth into seeing this faith lived out practically in people's lives.

• "By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith." (Hebrews 11:7) Noah is a prime example of faith! Despite the mocking of others, the fact that no worldwide flood had ever occurred before, and that it took a lot of work to build an ark, Noah persevered because he had faith in the Lord and His word. The Lord told Noah to build an ark because the rain was a'comin,' so Noah did. He had no proof that the biggest downpour mankind had ever, and would ever, see was about to take place. All he had was the Word of the Lord. And Noah faithfully set his hand to the task the Lord instructed him to do. Noah knew that if the Lord said something was going to happen, you could bet that it was going to happen. But Noah had to step out in faith and obedience.

• "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going." (Hebrews 11:8) Abraham gets the most credit in Hebrews 11. He gets nearly eight verses! The author of Hebrews wants to make sure that we understand Abraham's faith. He highlights his faith to follow God despite the fact that he had no idea where God was leading (vs. 8), he highlights how Abraham continued to follow God to a foreign land and live in tents among a people he didn't know (vs. 9), he highlights Abraham's faith in keeping his eyes focused on heaven (vs. 10), and he highlights Abraham's faith in his willingness to sacrifice his only son at the command of the Lord (vs. 17-19). Yes, Abraham messed up and forgot about God at times, but having faith in God is not just a one-day event; it's a life-long commitment. So that's why, at the end of the day, Abraham clung to his faith in the Lord, just like Noah.

There's so many more faith warriors to cover here in Hebrews 11, so stay tuned for part two of faithfulness!

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23