As we continue our season on leading in the fruit of the Spirit today’s focus is faithfulness. Faithfulness is the quality of being faithful; fidelity. Faithful means loyal, constant and steadfast, or full of faith. Faithfulness is a necessary quality of a leader if our goal is to be taken seriously over the long haul. A leader who is not loyal to peers and workers, or who is not steadfast when it comes to moral character, and the organizations mission, vision and values may succeed in the short-run, but won’t be successful over the long haul.
Faithfulness is a quality we may not talk about much in leadership circles, but we all know when it is missing in an employee or a leader. While faithfulness isn’t valued nearly as highly as it was in generations past from the standpoint that most workers and leaders today are not going to be “faithful” to a particular company over the long haul and most companies aren’t going to be “faithful” to their employees over the long haul, faithfulness is still a valued trait when it comes to depending on a person to follow through with commitments.
We all know leaders and workers who are faithful. We know if they tell us they’re going to complete a project, it will be done and done well. Faithfulness is what keeps an organization moving in the right direction over time. After all, if no one demonstrated the qualities of loyalty, constancy and steadfastness, if no one believed in the organization’s purpose it would be impossible to move forward over time. Thankfully, many leaders and workers do demonstrate faithfulness, because they are the glue who hold those organizations together.
Because we are talking about leading in the fruit of the Spirit, I simply remind us again that while the quality of faithfulness may be developed naturally, and demonstrated in increasing measure over time, the Holy Spirit offers an extra measure of faithfulness when He fills and indwells us. As I have pointed out several times during this series, the Spirit’s filling us with Himself doesn’t mean we will demonstrate the qualities He offers. We must still submit our wills to His guidance, and as we do whatever quality we’re considering will be demonstrated in greater measure and with deeper effectiveness.
As you consider how faithful you are, perhaps it would be good to ask this question, “Do those around me at home, work and where I hang out see me as faithful as loyal both to the cause I champion and to them?” How you respond to that question, and as you respond honestly, you will determine the level of your faithfulness. As I noted above, faithfulness is the glue that holds organizations together, because as our loyalty increases, as our steadfastness increases, we will influence others around us to move the organization’s purpose forward. All of the facets of the fruit of the Spirit are necessary to leadership, and faithfulness while sounding more spiritual than the others, is one of the most needed.
Here’s to leading better by committing ourselves to greater faithfulness to God, others and our organization’s purpose–today!