Faithfulness

I recently had to give a short presentation on faithfulness, one of the fruit of the Spirit.  I also thought to share it here in the hope you will ponder and be encouraged today.

The fruit of the Spirit.  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Try as I might, I can’t produce any of these on my own.  Thankfully, I don’t have to.  That’s God’s job.  As I walk with him, He grows and develops the fruit of the Spirit in me.  One of which is faithfulness.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines faithfulness as: having or showing true and constant support or loyalty: deserving trust: firm in adherence to promises.  I’ve made promises that I didn’t keep and I’ve let people down, but God hasn’t.  Psalm 145:13 says, “The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”

One of my favorite stories that illustrates faith is the story of Charles Blondin, a famous French tightrope walker.

In 1859 he became the first person to walk a tightrope stretched 11,000 feet across Niagara Falls. People from both Canada and America came from miles around to see him perform.

In fact, he walked 160 feet above the pounding falls, across a rope that was only a few inches thick, several times.  Each time with a different daring feat - once with a sack over his head, on stilts, on a bicycle and twice with his manager clinging to his back. He even carried a stove and cooked an omelet in the middle of the rope!

One time he walked across the rope pushing a wheelbarrow.  Upon reaching the other side he yelled above the cheers and asked the crowd if they believed he could carry a person across in the wheelbarrow?

The crowd enthusiastically yelled, "Yes! You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. We believe!"

"Okay," said Blondin, "Who wants to get into the wheelbarrow?"

As far as the Blondin story goes, no one did at the time!

I have good news.  Walking the tightrope of life, we don’t have a mere human holding the wheelbarrow for us.  We have God who is faithful in all he does.  As we learn to trust in His faithfulness, we will grow and develop in our own. 

When God asks you to get in the wheelbarrow, what will you do?  Will you look down and see the pounding waters from a dizzying height and back away or will you slowly get in the wheelbarrow and hang on with closed eyes and white knuckles and repeat Lamentations 3:22-23 in your head,  "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."