Ephesians 6:23-24 NLT
[23] “Peace be with you, dear brothers and sisters, and may God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you love with faithfulness. [24] May God’s grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians begins and ends with a prayer for grace and peace to permeate the lives of his readers. He also injects another word into his prayer than needs a little inspection… faithfulness, ( Greek – ‘pistis’).
Some versions translate ‘pistis’ as ‘faith’, others as ‘faithfulness’. According to Strong’s Concordance, ‘pistis’ is derived from ‘peitho’ which incudes the concept of credence, i.e., belief in a system of truth.
Our confidence in the gospel, which is the system of truth which brought us both salvation from sin and the transformation of our lives, results in faithfulness to that body of belief to which we hold.
When we study the records of Jesus’ teachings, we discover that faithfulness to Him and His Word is high on His list of priorities and has great rewards. Jesus counts faithfulness to Him to be the qualification for our position in His kingdom when He returns.
Luke 16:10-12 NLT
[10]“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. [11] And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? [12] And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”
Luke 18:8 NIV
[8] “…However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith (faithfulness) on the earth?”
Again , ‘pistis’, translated ‘faith’, but could it imply ‘faithfulness’?
Jesus had much to say about faithfulness. He told parables to illustrate the importance of faithfulness. For example…
Luke 12:42-44 NLT
[42] “And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. [43] If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. [44] I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns.”
The story of Joseph clearly illustrates the value and reward of faithfulness.
Genesis 39:2, 4, 6 NLT
[2]”The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master…
[4] This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned…
[6] So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!… “
Unfaithfulness is the name of the game in our day. Unfaithfulness is rife on every level of family life and society. I don’t need to go into detail since we have all felt the effects of unfaithful people in our lives, AND we have all taken part in the tidal wave of unfaithfulness that sweeps over our world.
How can we remain faithful to our human family as well as to our Master when the pressure is on? Paul gives us a simple answer.
Galatians 5:22 NLT
[22] “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, FAITHFULNESS…”
To qualify for the great prize at the end of our days on earth, we must heed the instruction of our Lord Jesus. We must trust the Holy Spirit to grow the fruit of faithfulness that only He can produce in us as we walk in the Word with Him.