If We are Faithless, He Remains Faithful

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control… - Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)

I have friends who are regularly discouraged by their lack of faithfulness and their inability to exhibit Christ-like character in their game. I encourage them to not beat themselves up when they fail because even their desire for greater Faithfulness is evidence that God is at work in their lives.

The desire to grow can be the beginning of tremendous growth. The Apostle Paul describes his struggle to be faithful in Romans 7:15-25. In summary, Paul laments, I don’t do what I want to do, and I do things I do not want to do. Then in 7:25, he shouts, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

God is the One who helps us live in faithfulness to Him and His Word. Below are a few verses to encourage you as you seek to grow in your Faithfulness.

Even If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself. - 2 Timothy 2:13

Run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hebrews 12:1-2

Three keys to keep in mind as we seek to be faithful to God in our sport:

1. Know that God will not cut you from His eternal family if you mess up. Otherwise, based on the Romans 7 passage referenced above, even Saint Paul would not make the cut.
2. Trust that the Spirit of God is working in you to sanctify you. He will empower you to resist the temptation to be unfaithful to God (1 Corinthians 10:13). God will give you the strength to play your sport for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31; 1 Peter 2:24).
3. In sports, if we don’t acknowledge that we need to work on a skill, we won’t improve. The same is true for our spiritual growth. Acknowledging our weaknesses and shortcomings to our merciful God or a trusted friend is often the start of growing great fruit in our lives.

Prayer is a great tool to help us develop faithfulness. Run to God in constant prayer and watch your Faithfulness grow!

Training Exercise

1. Google “Faithfulness in the Bible” and write out three or four verses that are meaningful to you. (Don’t let the internet distract you from building this list of verses from God’s Word.)
2. Based on your verses from the list above, write out a prayer to help you remain faithful. It can be very powerful to incorporate God’s Word in our prayers.
3. Pick a favorite verse on faithfulness and memorize it.