Befriending Faithfulness

Psalm 37 has become a cherished hiding place for our family. It started in the fall of 2022 when we launched Will, our oldest to Taylor University. 

In the wee hours of that first morning after dropping him off, I opened my bible and landed in Psalm 37.

Trust in the Lord; do good; dwell in the land, befriend faithfulness. 

We were in a new land. A new land of launching, a new land of pastoring, a new land of hunting for a home. In the midst of all these changes, these sacred words became our family’s mantra.

We still think and talk often about what does trusting the Lord, doing good, dwelling in this new land and befriending faithfulness look like today? This hour? This moment? This season?

Fast forward 2 years – probably most of us would never have imagined many of the changes and twists and turns we’ve each experienced.

new jobs

new homes

new communities

new people

new seasons

new schools

new ministry

In the continual new lands, I find myself returning to psalm 37 – over and over again. 

This week, though, I realized something I want to look be mindful of.

I stumbled on an article by Jon Bloom, one of my favorite Desiring God contributors, on Psalm 37 titled “Devote Yourself to Faithfulness.” I was all in. However, as I was reading some of the words, a few of the thoughts caused me to pause cautiously:

Likewise, we all like the idea of becoming more faithful with our talents and more trustworthy to those we are called to serve and serve with, but we all find it hard to “discipline [oursleves] for the purpose of godliness” in this area (1 Timothy 4:7 NASB). But the only way you become more faithful is to practice faithfulness, to cultivate faithfulness, to feed on faithfulness, to befriend (make a companion of) faithfulness, to devote ourselves to developing faithfulness until it becomes a part of us.

Do you hear the little nuances? 

In processing what I was reading, 2 very familiar passages came to mind:

Jesus says in John 15:4-5:

⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. ⁵Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

The second one from Paul in Galatians 5:22-23:

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

Such a familiar verses – I actually had to put my eyes on the page of the Bible again to see – yes, in fact, I was recalling this correctly. My role as a branch is to bear fruit – to  “fer-o” φέρω phero, which literally means to carry or bring forth, not produce. Yes, faithfulness is in fact a fruit of the Spirit, which can only mean one thing about how we get it: it is produced by the Spirit living in me. I cannot make the fruit. I carry it. I hold it. I bear it. 

I’m not criticizing this article – written by an author I deeply respect – but, I fear, especially with the name of this ministry being Faithful Shepherds, if we’re not vigilant about our focus, and who is the the actual producer of the fruit, we just might be setting ourselves up to be a very works based oriented ministry and people.

How are we to “Diligently graze on the virtue of faithfulness?” And will that actually transform me to be more faithful? 

Psalm 37:3 does acutally say,

Trust in the Lord, do good, dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Spending lots of time and energy on psalm 37:3 alone, while helpful, could tip me unintentionally into the detrimental check-the-box, performance driven, “well done” way I know so well. Trying really hard to do everything I know how to ensure I am befriending faithfulness. Have I done enough?

The next verse, however, seems to be the key: 

Delight yourself in THE LORD. 

Those are the ultimate marching orders.

These are the life-giving, holy sap pulsing, faithfulness-producing words.

The deepest desire of my heart -and probably yours –  IS to hear “well-done good and faithful servant” someday. But me seeking to cultivate faithfulness – befriending it, grazing on it – apart from saturating myself in the only one who is truly faithful – is just another wasted attempt at performing to please God. But, savoring Him, delighting in Him – who He is, His promises, His faithfulness – both historically to mankind – and also to me in my little life – root me and ground me in His love. 

And trusting that as I savor who He is, He will produce that fruit of faithfulness in me. 

Because I am grafted into the vine and feeding on His word, listening to His nudges, responding to His leadings, His prompts to love and serve and die to myself – that produces a faithful one – but its not me who produces it. I walk in tandem with my Savior. He produces the fruit. 

As we step out in faith and let Him lead us to whatever He has planned for each of us, let’s first and foremost be committed to lifting our eyes to the One who is the only One who makes the fruit. Let’s have the top priority be abiding in the Good Shepherd. 

Let’s champion sitting at His feet, looking to Him for direction, and delighting in Him as the greatest and most real treasure. 

And as we do, He produces the fruit. 

We simply get to be faithful as we bear it and help others to abide in Him as well. 

Bloom, Jon. “Devote Yourselves to Faithfulness.” Desiringgod.org, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/devote-yourself-to-faithfulness.