In the times we live in with half of all marriages still ending up in divorce and with many people getting backstabbed in the workplaces with
people they thought they could initially trust - this particular quality is one that is really needed in our day and age. This quality is not
only needed in our own personal relationship with God, but it is also needed in our personal relationships with our friends and our families.
Once you are saved and have entered into a true personal relationship with the Lord - one of the first things you will really have to grab a
hold of is holding fast to the Lord and staying faithful to Him for the rest of your eternal life. Once you are saved and have entered into a
true personal relationship with the Lord, there is no turning back - ever!
This is what got the Jewish people in major trouble with God the Father back in the Old Testament. They could not stay faithful and loyal to
Him on a consistent and regular basis. There were times that God the Father was literally calling them harlots and adulterers because they would
not stay faithful to Him, especially when they kept chasing after other gods.
God the Father really holds this particular quality in high esteem, and this is one quality that He will really expect you to operate very
strongly in - not only in your own personal relationship with Him, but also in your other personal relationships with your family and friends. In
other words, He wants you to be faithful and loyal to your spouses, to your children, to your parents and to your good friends.
Too many people are bailing out from their spouses and their children if they hit a few minor speed bumps in their marriages. Too many spouses
are having affairs behind their spouse's back, thereby destroying all of the trust and faithfulness that may have been built up in the early
years of their marriages. Too many dads are bailing out of their marriages, and then forgetting and forsaking their own children - and sometimes
for good, never wanting to see any of them ever again!
If God brings you a wonderful mate, wonderful children, and good and wonderful friends - then He will expect you to stay loyal and faithful to
all of them in your own personal relationships with them. A true friend will stay by your side for life - through thick and thin and for better
or for worse. Just as God will stay faithful to you in His own personal relationship with you - He will expect you to stay loyal and faithful in
your personal relationships with others.
Now here are what some of the different Bible dictionaries and commentaries have to say about this particular quality:
Fidelity which makes one true to his promise and faithful to his task
Steadfast, dedicated, dependable and worthy of trust
Steadfast, unchanging and thoroughly grounded in relation to the other
Dependability, loyalty and stability
With the self-centered and materialistic world in which we now live in, where many people's only goals and ambitions are to get as much as
they can out of this life - I'm afraid this is one quality that is in very short supply. Most people are lucky if they manage to make 2 or 3
good, true, loyal and faithful friends in this lifetime.
This is one quality that God the Father is really watching all of us on. He is watching who is going to stay true, loyal and faithful to Him -
and who will stay true, loyal and faithful to the friends and family that are brought into our lives.
The flesh is strong - especially in the area of wanting to satisfy its lust for the material things of this life. This is why this quality is
one of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. We all need the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit worked into us to help keep us loyal to God, family
and friends.
Article written by Michael Bradley, you can get the complete article on the fruits of the Spirit - You can also receive 20% off retail on all Christian books and Bibles at his online christian bookstore.
