The seventh characteristic of the Fruit of the Spirit is Faith. If the Spirit is showing forth the characteristics of God Himself, then God has Faith. But what does God have Faith in? I asked myself this question as I began my Bible study and came up with a surprising answer. He has Faith in the same thing we have Faith in: Himself! He knows that His creation will do and accomplish and become just what He purposed that it would in the beginning. He knows that what He says He will do. Can we say the same? No, not if we are honest. But God is always honest. He is, as Jesus called Himself, "the Truth". There is no Truth greater than God and no one more reliable, and trustworthy than Him. The whole Bible shows us the Faithfulness of God again and again.
Just as Corinthians 13 can be named the "Love chapter", then Hebrews 11 can be called the "Faith chapter". It starts with a definition of Faith in verse one which I used in the picture today. "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." It goes on to give an account of the Faithfulness of God and the Faith He has inspired in people starting with the Creation in Genesis. Paul gives a list of what might be called a "Biblical Who's Who". He starts with Abel and goes on through Enoch, Abraham, Sarah, Issac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, etc. Paul gives a brief synopsis of their lives, showing their faithful attitudes and actions as they lived "by Faith". He shows by example after example how people had Faith in God and how God was Faithful to them, fulfilling promise after promise. "Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations" (Deuteronomy 7:9 KJV)
Jesus, too, put quite a bit of emphasis on Faith. How many times did He say "your Faith has healed you" or "O ye of little Faith"? In Mark 11, Jesus says this to His disciples: " “Have Faith in God,” replied Jesus to them. “I tell you that if anyone should say to this hill, ‘Get up and throw yourself into the sea’, and without any doubt in his heart believe that what he says will happen, then it will happen! " (verses 22 and 23 J.B. Phillips New Testament). Of course, Jesus Himself had that kind of Faith in God the Father. His whole life was lived in perfect reliance on that Faith and He is our example of how God wants us to live our lives. When you think about it, our very salvation is based on our Faith in a Faithful God: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9 NIV).
When we consider the Faithfulness of God and as we learn day by day to rely on the Truth that is in God, we can better ignore the examples of faithlessness around us. We really can't rely on any physical, or worldly things. If we place our trust in money or possessions or people, they will all let us down again and again. This physical knowledge makes us fearful and angry, ready to blame everything and everyone for our problems. But if we focus on the spiritual truth that God is always Faithful to us and always keeps His promises to us, we begin to see the world differently. There is great stability in God our Father. As our Faith in our Faithful Father grows, it becomes a firm foundation for our lives, just as it was for Abraham, for Moses and ultimately for Jesus. Less and less are we tossed to and fro by the uncertainties of life here on earth. And when you think about it, the restless world around us really needs to see this characteristic of the Spirit of God in our lives so that they too can find a firm foundation.
"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
Isaiah 40:8 NIV