Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness

Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Due to a technical glitch, the hot links in the body of this posting that normal come up by clicking on the numerical citation in the text do not work but the links in the reverence section at the end do work so to view the articles supporting the ideas in the text, you can go there.  Fortunately the links to Bible verses do work.  

Galatians 5:22-23

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

(ESV)

The truth is something lacking in much of our modern society.  However, Jesus who said He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) is someone that will never lie to us.  This same Jesus also said he would never leave us (Hebrews 13:5) and that He is always faithful and just in forgiving our sins (1 John 1:9).  While our Lord and Savior is always faithful, people struggle with bearing the fruit of faithfulness. 

It was the unfaithfulness of Adam and Eve in disobeying Gods command to not eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil that caused sin to enter the world (Genesis 2:16-17).  Jesus, the first fruit of those resurrected from the dead has become the life-giving fruit canceling the sin brought upon humanity through the disobedience of Adam and Eve (1 Corinthians 15:20-28).  Jesus faithfully surrendered His life for the sins of humanity, providing a perfect example of the fruit of faithfulness we should all practice.  Unfortunately, even though Jesus came, died, and resurrected from the dead, the seed of unfaithfulness still lives in us as evidenced by

1)      Unfaithfulness in business – Most all transactions in business involve some form of contract.  This contract may or may not be in written form but whether its written or not, every transaction involves some type of contract.  Unfortunately, many are unfaithful in fulfilling their contractual obligations and as a result we live in a litigant society.  A 2010 survey conducted by the Lawyers for Civil Justice, Civil Justice Reform Group, and the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform surveyed 200 Fortune 200 companies of which 20 percent responded.  The survey thus represents a broad cross-section of industries with 14 of 19 industry sectors represented.  The average outside litigation cost of the respondents as of 2010 was $115 million in 2008 up 66 percent from the number in 2000.  (1)  While this data is 10 years old, the costs of litigation continue to rise as evidenced by a 7 percent rise in claims over all areas of law from 2011 to 2015.  (2)  Corporations incurring these costs do not just absorb them but pass them on to consumers in higher prices.  For example, a rule in the Dodd-Frank Act limits or bans the use of arbitration agreements in consumer financial contracts if the Bureau concludes these restrictions are “in the public interest and for the protection of consumers.”  In 2017 the bureau issued its final rule prohibiting arbitration to resolve disputes.  The result was the creation of 3,000 additional class action lawsuits over a five-year period resulting in an additional cost of $500 million per year, costs absorbed by the consumers of financial products.  (3)  Unfaithfulness in business deals comes at a high price.

2)      Marital unfaithfulness – While marriage is a legal contractual agreement between a man and a woman, it is also an emotional transaction.  When a married couple stays faithful to their vows, a marriage of faith and trust ensues.  However, when a couple breaks their vows and the marriage ends in divorce, there is both a high financial and emotional cost to pay.  According to Legal Zoom, the cost of a do it yourself uncontested divorce can be less than $500.  When a couple hires an attorney, the flat rate is between $200 to $1500 with hourly costs ranging from $250 to $450 per hour.  (4)  However, this is just the financial cost, the emotional costs of a divorce are hard to place a numerical value on.  One way of measuring it numerically however is in looking at the greater percentage of people incarcerated coming from single parent households as opposed to those with two parents, and the number of single divorced parents living in poverty.  According to thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com the statistics of increased suicides, criminal activity, and the increased drop-out rate of children from fatherless homes is nothing less than alarming.  Not considering the emotional costs, the financial costs of incarcerating these individuals and subsidizing them financially adds to taxes and deficits already ballooning out of control in the United States.  (5)  Unlike business unfaithfulness, marital unfaithfulness comes with both a massive financial cost to society as well as an unmeasurable emotional cost.

3)      Political unfaithfulness of leaders – In representative republics like the United States, voters elect representatives to represent them.  They elect these representatives with the hope they will be faithful to the promises they stated when running for office.  As of this writing, the approval rating of President Trump is 38.4% but worse yet the approval rating of Congress is a meager 13%.  (6) (7)  Much of this disapproval stems from politicians failing to fulfill campaign promises.  The political cost of this unfaithfulness towards voters is not measurable in dollars and cents but does reveal itself in low voter turnout as disenfranchised voters believe their vote does not count.  The result of this lack of representation is a government unresponsive to many voter’s desires. 

On the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we find the fruits of ignorance and arrogance.  We find ignorance of the Word of God and the grace of God allowing us to fall for the deception of the Devil as Eve did.  Arrogance because this fruit makes us believe we are like God.  These are the fruits of unfaithfulness.

The fruits of faithfulness are knowledge of the Word of God but also of the grace of God.  While the penalty of Adam and Eve’s disobedience was death, due to God’s grace, Adam and Eve did not immediately die and God even provided a covering of animal skins for them.  Interestingly these animal skins were the result of the sacrifice of an animal, a shadow of the sacrifice of Jesus the Lamb of God as a covering for our sins.  The fruit of faithfulness also involves humility to God’s will in our lives instead of the fruit of arrogance and going our own way.  The world needs more of the fruit of faithfulness to God from those treasuring God’s Word and will in their lives and less of the fruits of unfaithfulness or ignorance of God and arrogance or selfishness. 

1. Lawyers for Civil Justicem, Civil Justice Reform Group, U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. www.uscourts.gov. [Online] Duke Law School, May 10-11, 2010. [Cited: November 18, 2017.] http://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/litigation_cost_survey_of_major_companies_0.pdf.

2. Lawpro. Litigation claims on the rise. www.practicepro.ca. [Online] Practice Pro, August 1, 2017. [Cited: November 18, 2017.] https://www.practicepro.ca/2017/08/litigation-claims-on-the-rise/.

3. U.S. Department of Treasury. LIMITING CONSUMER CHOICE, EXPANDING COSTLY LITIGATION: AN ANALYSIS OF THE CFPB ARBITRATION RULE. www.treasury.gov. [Online] U.S. Department of the Treasury, October 23, 2017. [Cited: November 18, 2017.] https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Documents/10-23-17%20Analysis%20of%20CFPB%20arbitration%20rule.pdf.

4. Bird, Beverly. The Average Cost of an Uncontested Divorc. info.legalzoom.com. [Online] Legal Zoom. [Cited: November 18, 2017.] http://info.legalzoom.com/average-cost-uncontested-divorce-20665.html.

5. The Fatherless Generation. The Fatherless Generation. thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com. [Online] The Fatherless Generation. [Cited: November 18, 2017.] https://thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com/statistics/.

6. Politics, Real Clear. President Trump Job Approval. www.realclearpolitics.com. [Online] REal Clear Politics. [Cited: November 18, 2017.] https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html.

7.Politics, Real Clear. Congressional Job Approval. www.realclearpolitics.com. [Online] Real Clear Politics. [Cited: November 18, 2017.] https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html.