Faithfulness, what is it?

 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, ‘the just shall live by faith.’” Romans 1: 16, 17

      What do we know about faithfulness to God?  Is having faith and faithfulness the same?  Can we call ourselves faithful because of our work in the church?  Let’s examine each of these thoughts.
      Let’s start with the definition of faithfulness.  Faithfulness is defined as being faithful or loyal to a person, group, or object.  When we show faithfulness, we are trustworthy, loyal, and supportive.  One example is to be faithful to your spouse.  In other words, you are honest, true and loyal to your spouse.  Another example is to be faithful to an organization.  By showing faithfulness to an organization, you will be loyal and support everything the organization represents.  With this definition and examples in mind, faithfulness to God is to be loyal to God by obeying the scriptures, seeking to do God’s will, and sharing God’s love.    
    Faith and faithfulness are two different things.  You see, faith is belief without seeing.  It is through faith that we are saved.  We can’t save ourselves by showing faithfulness, because faithfulness comes after faith.  As we read in Ephesians 2:8, we see that it is “by grace” that we “are saved through faith and that not of ourselves, because it is the gift of God.”  Faith is the action of believing, and faithfulness comes after we receive Christ as our Savoir.  I like how Eli Brayley explains the difference in his article, “Faith or Faithfulness.”  (http://www.timothyministry.com/2014/07/faith-or-faithfulness.html)  He writes that faith is outside of self.  Faith is to believe in someone or something outside of ourselves.  As Christians, we believe in God and have total faith in His Word.  Now, faithfulness is internal, because trustworthiness and loyalty comes from within us.  Faithfulness does not save us but is what we do after we are saved.            
      Now, is faithfulness to our church considered to be faithful to God?  It depends.  Faithfulness to a certain church body due to a feeling of duty instead of faith in God is not the same as faithfulness to God.  In other words, faithfulness to one’s church because of a sense of ownership of the church building or of a duty to perform good works is leaving faith in God out.  In Ephesians 2:8 and 9, salvation comes through faith and is a gift of God, and salvation is “not of works, lest any man should boast.”  Faithfulness to your church body is good, but it should come out of faithfulness to God.
     What do we know?  We know that faithfulness is living by the gospel of Christ.  The gospel of Christ ‘is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.’  Within the gospel of God we find ‘the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16, 17)  This is faithfulness.  Faithfulness in God is living out our faith every day, being loyal and dedicated to the gospel of Christ, and showing God’s love through our service to our churches and to others in order to show the world the way to salvation.