Fruitful Growth in the Faith=Faithfulness (Fruit facet #7)
I hadn’t planned on blogging tonight----but God………..He is faithful when I am not. What a comfort that is!
Here are a few things I know about faith and faithfulness:
- Faith springs forth from God’s love that is “shed abroad in my heart.” He is the source of my faith.
- He is the “author and finisher of my faith.” (Hebrews 12:2)
- Without faith, it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6)
Sermon Jottings from II Peter 1:3-8
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue (moral excellence/goodness), to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verses 3-5 describe the basis of our faith and verses 5-8 give us qualities that supplement our faith---four of which are mentioned in our Fruit of the Spirit verses (must be important if God repeats them elsewhere) These are qualities that need to be cultivated in our lives so that in our faithfulness others see Him, our faithful witness, the One who is called Faithful and True.
Steve Collums, a godly teacher during his lifetime, simply defined orthopraxie, the right practice of right doctrine---knowledge of Him---as "living out what you believe." In these verses, I see faithfulness in our lives as giving back to Him who is the Source of our faith.
Prayer: May all who come behind me find me faithful. May they see, or remember, faithfulness in my life as I respond to my faith in Him. May all who know me or know of me in generations to come see my life as a dance of faith! A-men.
