Counterfeit Faithulness

 

I thought jackfruit, or nangka, as it is known in Indonesia, is quite appropriate to represent counterfeit faithfulness. Read on to find out why. I'll put a few pictures of this fruit into this post...just because they are so interesting. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

(Galatians 5:22-23)

I must admit had a bit of a difficult time identifying the counterfeit of faithfulness. I looked at a number of different verses that used the word. Actually, the Greek word used in Galatians, is translated in a two ways: faith…and faithfulness.

"Real Deal" Faithfulness

There was a long string of definitions for this word, too. Most of them had to do with faith that is directed toward God.

That long string of definitions also referred to the word we translate as faithfulness. Faithfulness has to do with the one who inspires faith. When we talk about the faithfulness of God, we speak of an aspect of His character. This is the portion of the definition that applies here.

HE Knows What We Want...and Need

Yesterday’s post, entitled “We Know What We Want”, put forth the idea that unspoken expectations can wreak havoc in our relationships, especially as they are often unreasonable.  In that post, I mostly focused on expectations between people.

One commenter to that post gave this input.

“Aren't we glad God knows what we want and need? He gives us our needs, and if we are following Him it will also cover our wants.”

OK.  This comment sums up in a nutshell everything I wanted to say in today’s post.  Enough said.  Catch you tomorrow.

No, seriously, let’s unpack that comment and see what the Bible has to say about God’s provision.  I’d like to focus on four verses today.  The first two have the same context, so let’s look at them together.