What is faithfulness, and what are you faithful to in your life? Perhaps an even bigger question might be, what do you wish you were more faithful with?

I know a guy who faithfully goes to the gym at 3:30 AM every single morning, rain or snow, hot or cold. He says he has done this for the last forty years without fail and with that kind of faithfulness, no wonder we can all see results!

And speaking of faithfulness, I have friends in their early 60’s who have had regular, 40 hour a week jobs, and they have more than a million dollars in their retirement plan, simply because they have faithfully contributed to their account with every single paycheck for the last 40 years. On the flip side, I also have friends in their early 60’s who have faithfully spent every dime they’ve ever earned, and because they have been loyal to their spending habit, they have no savings of any kind.

When we break it down, being faithful is going in the same direction for a long time. It’s when we make choices that develop into habits, which ultimately form our character.

And character is who you are. It defines you. Beyond personality, your character is who you are when no one is looking. For example, I know people who are faithfully on time – every time, all the time, no matter what. They are faithfully reliable no matter where they are going, what they are doing or who may be depending on them. I also know people who are habitually late – and everyone can count on it. They are always and forever late because it is in their character. Both ways, both types of people are faithful to their habit.

A character of deliberate, chosen and well thought out faithfulness does not quit on the bad days and does not change when others go whichever way the wind is blowing. People with carefully developed character remember that, in the end, their direction and their decisions of how they live their life, will bring them to where they want to go.

Perhaps this is why Jesus said, “Whoever has will be given more. . . and whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them” (Mt 13:12). At first glance, this may seem harsh, but let’s consider the example of a naturally gifted pianist. If they practice playing, their skills will grow even greater. But if they never practice, they will slowly lose the natural talent they once had. Either way, we get to choose to faithfully practice and gain more or to not practice and lose what we already have.

Every aspect of our lives works the same way – including our faith. We can choose to spend time with God, read his Book, get to know him and grow in our faith – or we can choose not to. It’s all so simple, and God honors our choice.

That’s because, amazingly, at the very core of our Almighty God, he is faithful. The Bible says that God’s faithfulness reaches to the skies (Ps 36:5). He is so faithful, in fact, that he remains faithful even when we are not (2 Tim 2:13)!

Just like spending a lot of time with a good friend, one of the exciting benefits of spending time with God is that his faithfulness will rub off on us! When we are faithful to God’s Word, we find that his Word seeps into our minds and hearts. And just like any habit, the effect of spending time with his Word grows and becomes part of our character.

When we thoughtfully consider what we are faithful to, hopefully we too, can declare the words Joshua spoke to the people of Israel almost 4000 years ago: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Jsh 24:15).  These are such powerful words to be faithful too.  Perhaps we can say them again, together: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”