Elements of Faith – Faithfulness

“I have not concealed Your righteousness in My heart; I speak Your faithfulness and Your salvation. I have not hidden Your loving-kindness and Your truth from the great assembly.”
(Psalm 40:10 LITV)

Faithfulness describes an individual who is faithful to their faith. Mere belief makes it possible to disassociate one’s walk from one’s talk. It is the element of faith that causes one to walk in the truth they have embraced.

“So speak and so do as being about to be judged through a Law of freedom. For judgment will be without mercy to the one not doing mercy…”
James 2:12-13 (LITV) (the accurate Greek parsing)

God looks for those who are faithful to speak His truth and righteousness in the “great assembly” of God regardless of the reaction. Faithfulness to God must always eclipse our desire for the approval of men.

It is mercy to speak to those who walk in error and deception in God’s house. It is mercy to declare to one another His whole council. Paul spent three years in Ephesus “with tears night and day” teaching and warning everyone to walk in the fear of God. We suffer as the assembly of God because too many choose the fear of man over the fear of God.

The purpose of godly ministry is to produce those who are authentic not only in declaring God’s truth but also in the manner of how they walk! Because of his faithfulness to the church at Ephesus, Paul was able to write that he “kept back nothing that was profitable”. His conscience was clear as it pertained to his walk before them.

Romans Chapter 14 speaks of issues we are not to address with one another. It is a chapter that calls us to honor the individuality of each member’s faith. These are things for which every child of God is personally answerable to God alone. However, when we see brothers and sisters walking in unforgiveness, slander, gossip, unacceptable sin, and other works of the flesh, it is the faithful who speak God’s truth. The unfaithful turn a blind eye and avoid the cost of truth for the acceptance of men.

The faithful walk in the recognition that God beholds their faithfulness to the truth. By the way they conduct themselves they reveal to Whom they belong. Those who “withhold God’s righteousness” from the “great congregation” are void of this crucial element of faith.

Related Article: Preach the Word

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“If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying “Peace, peace,” where there is no peace; if I forget the poignant word “Let love be without dissimulation“ and blunt the edge of truth, speaking not right things but smooth things, then I know nothing of Calvary love…”
– Amy Carmichael

Brian Troxel