Faithfulness. What does that mean? How does one measure it?
I think faithfulness is one of those words where we just “know what it means” without giving it a lot of pause. We know it when we see it. We know when it has been violated.
For me faithfulness is closely linked with trust and trustworthiness. To be faithful is to show trust and also to keep trust. In fact I am sure that with out trust faithfulness becomes almost impossible. Without trust we are always hedging our bets, always making back-up plans, expecting to be disappointed, Nothing about that is faithfulness – unless the faith you have is that the other will disappoint/fail you.
In his book The Heart of Christianity the late Marcus Borg talks about faith as the way of the heart. He suggests that in the life of church people we sometimes think faith (as in making a faith statement) means giving intellectual assent to a statement or doctrine or dogma. This makes faith, and faithfulness, about how we think. Borg suggests, and I tend to agree, that this takes us in the wrong direction. At its heart, Christianity is an invitation to follow a way of living, not an invitation to subscribe to a particular set of philosophical statements. It is a matter of the heart more than a matter of the head.
When we trust in God we can be faithful. When we trust that God is with us faithfulness follows. It allows us to relax into the arms of God, not because we think God will make everything right but simply because we know those arms will always be there. We trust in God who is trustworthy so we can have faith.
Faithfulness as a matter of the heart also links, in my mind, with words like commitment, loyalty, and allegiance. Where we are faithful, where we put our faith and trust, shows where our true center is, it shows what pole we use to ground ourselves, what we orbit around. To be faithful to the God we meet in Jesus is to center ourselves on the teachings of Jesus, to ground ourselves in the promise of Resurrection life (and that in abundance). We are most faithful to those things and people that are most important to us. To be faithful is to be loyal and committed. When God, known as Parent, Son and Spirit, holds our primary allegiance then we can not help but remain faithful to The Way Jesus lays out, the path that he invites us to follow. When something or someone else claims our primary allegiance we fall prey to idolatry, we wander from the path. We have trouble being faithful.
So why is faithfulness one of the overtones of the fruit of the spirit whose main flavour is love? I can think of a couple of reasons. One is that it sustains us, the trusting in God sustains, comforts, and emboldens us. Maybe when we sink into faithfulness we sink into a more healthy place, a place where we can feel the abundant life promised by Jesus. The other reason is that it keeps us grounded. Being faithful reminds us what we orbit around, what the center of our circle is, what is most important. Both of these flow out of the knowledge (or trust or even faith) that we are Beloved children of God. And then they help us to be loving children of God to everyone we meet.
WE are people of Faith, Hope, and Love. We are challenged to be faithful in all things. May God help us live into that reality.
--Gord
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