by Pastor Patrick Cho

Faithfulness is a quality that every Christian should seek to cultivate. Indeed, God’s people are called to do so in Scripture (Ps. 37:3). Generally speaking, faithfulness is defined as trustworthiness or dependability. Simply put, to be faithful means that you will do what you say. But I wonder if there is something deeper and more foundational to its definition. In Proverbs 27:6, it says that the wounds of a friend are faithful. What does this mean in light of our working definition: “to do what you say?” Does a true friend first promise to wound and then follow through with this promise? Is that the intention of the verse?

Likewise, what does the psalmist mean when he says, “…in faithfulness You have afflicted me” (Ps. 119:75). What do the trials and troubles we face have to do with God’s faithfulness? Is it that our troubles are the fulfillment of God’s promise? It seems verses like these demonstrate that our simple definition of faithfulness is too simple.

A better way to understand faithfulness is that a person acts in accordance with who they are. In other words, when it comes to God, He is faithful in that He will never cease to be God or act like God. In this sense, God’s faithfulness is tied to the doctrine of His immutability or constancy. God will always be God and God will always act like God. This means that He will dependably be Himself regarding all that we know about Him. For instance, we know that God is a God of love, and so His love will be a faithful love.

Faithfulness, then, is part of what it means to be God. He must be faithful because He is God. This is what the Apostle Paul refers to in 2 Timothy 2:11-13. God will remain faithful even in light of our unfaithfulness not only because He cannot lie or that He is a God of truth, but because He cannot deny Himself. His faithfulness in some way is the definition and outworking of His God-ness.

What does this definition of faithfulness mean for the believer since believers are likewise called to be faithful? If all people are inherently sinful and depraved, wouldn’t faithfulness mean that they would always act in accordance with their sinfulness? No, because in Christ we have been forgiven, redeemed, and transformed. We are not the same as we used to be. What this means, though, is that our faithfulness finds its appropriate application in Him.

Any unbeliever can do what he says he will do, but the Bible calls faithfulness a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). One must have been saved by the grace of God in order to be faithful in God’s sight. To be faithful means to act consistently with our new identity in Christ. The fact that we are called to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called is itself a call to faithfulness (Eph. 4:1).

Therefore, the psalmist can conclude that God has afflicted him in His faithfulness. This means that even though he is facing some of the most difficult trials of his life, he can trust that God will not cease to be God in the midst of them. God is not acting out of evil. God has not forgotten him. The psalmist can trust that God continues to be who He has revealed Himself to be – faithful to His word, the defender of the weak, the Savior of His people. And when in the Proverbs it teaches that the wounds of a friend are faithful, it means that the one who is “being wounded” can trust that his friend is acting in love because he is a friend.

Do you trust in God’s faithfulness? Even when you face various difficulties, would you trust that God will faithfully be God in the midst of them? Also, do you seek to cultivate faithfulness as one who is in Christ? Do you understand that true faithfulness can only be lived out in Him because of the inner change that He brings about by saving us? Certainly, we ought to be faithful because God is faithful.