Dare to Trust... Faithfulness Part 10 of The Nature of the Fruit

LBS

The Nature of the Fruit

Part 10

Dare to Trust - Faithfulness

    He knew that somebody up there was looking for him. He had faith, not just wishful thinking. And the reason he could have faith is because of the faithfulness of the multitude of men and women who were his backup, who wouldn’t let a downed F-16 pilot be abandoned. Captain Scott O’ Grady had been on the ground in Bosnia for six days already. After his plane was crippled by antiaircraft fire, he ejected and parachuted into a hostile landscape. Amazingly, he eluded capture, sometimes with his face buried in the ground as he heard the voices of the soldiers walking just yards from where he was lying. 

    One of his buddies flying in the search mission heard the crackling sound of O’Grady’s radio. Tears filled the pilot’s eyes as he struggled to concentrate on flying his plane. The strategist went to work, and a Marine rescuer team was assembled. The rescuer team swooped low across the countryside snatched up the downed pilot, and within a couple of hours Scoot O’Grady was safe. 

    This is a picture of faithfulness. One man was able to trust in and rely on other people because he knew their values, their purpose, their priorities, and their readiness to fly in the face of danger. He waited for his rescuers, knowing he would not give up on them because they would not give up on him. 

    Sometimes in life we face this kind of choice: Quit or trust. If you are willing to trust, you will need someone nearby who is trustworthy. Faithfulness is an indispensable pattern of character, because none of us can live without trust in someone else. 

    Faithfulness only works as a pattern. There is no such thing as instant trust. Reliability is a quality of character that is built progressively over time. That’s why in a continual walk with God you come to understand the faithfulness of God and you can obtain the knowledge that God can be trusted. Faithfulness as a quality of marriage for instance, emerges form a history of trustworthy exchanges. Like building a house block by block, board by board, there comes a time when you step back and start calling it a house. Though not a single one of us can be faithful in every way all the time, we do know one who is faithful this way. “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fails. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).

1. Daniel was faithful to God, even to the threat of death in a den of lions. How does Daniel’s display of faithfulness mirror the faithfulness you see in the lives of the Christians you know?________________________________________________

1. In what specific way would you like to see a growth of faithfulness in your own life in the months to come? ___________________________________________________

3. Is it easy for us to take the faithfulness of God for granted.  _____________

    How would your life be different if God were not faithful?_____________________

  

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