The Flavor of Faithfulness

Claire Black: Welcome to True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us, one drive at a time. Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

Have you ever been tempted to give up on your friend? Maybe you haven’t seen her in a while, and you keep trying to reach out to her, but you don’t hear anything. Did you fear she was ignoring you on purpose? Or did you think, Maybe she’s sick, or Maybe she’s just really busy right now. I should pray for her?

Your answer to that has to do with one fruit of the Spirit. I’m not talking about cranberries or pomegranates, but the list of character qualities found in Galatians 5. We call them the fruit of the Spirit. Remember, Dannah Gresh and Staci Rudolph are talking about all nine of them in this season of the True Girl Podcast. Today they’re looking at faithfulness. 

Meanwhile, they are in the kitchen baking again. Let’s listen to Season 15, Episode 8, called “The Flavor of Faithfulness.” Here’s Dannah!

Dannah Gresh: Uh, Staci, did you do something to these peaches?

Staci Rudolph: No, why?

Dannah: ’Cause they’re really squishy. I’m having trouble getting the pits out.

Staci: Oh, those are soft. Well, I guess that’s what happens when you buy them out of season! Well, it’s a good thing we’re cooking them and not trying to put them on a fruit plate. They should work okay, right?

Dannah: Yeah. Alright, those’ll have to do.

Staci: Okay, I think this topping seems combined enough. Let me just dump this on top of your peach mush!

Dannah: There it is . . .  and into the oven it goes. Now we wait and see if this experiment actually works.

Staci: Experiment? You mean there’s a chance this might not turn out?

Dannah: Well, yeah! These peaches weren’t exactly recipe perfect. And we’re trusting this topping to come together. But let’s stick with the recipe—even when the peaches are squishy. Let’s see if it pays off.

And now, let’s have some tea while we talk about our next fruit of the spirit: faithfulness!

Staci: Let’s do!

Dannah: What kind of tea do you feel like today?

Staci: Hmm, I think Lemon Ginger.

Dannah: Good choice. I’m gonna do Constant Comment Classic.

Okay, so faithfulness. Faithfulness in life means staying committed—even when things don’t look perfect . . . like our peaches today!

Staci: Exactly. 

Dannah: When we’re faithful, God has a way of turning even the messiest situations into something good.

Ya know, Staci, I have a messy situation in my life. It’s with a friend. I’m so tempted to give up. But I just keep telling myself: Dannah, be faithful. God can fix this!

Staci: Well, Dannah Gresh, do you actually have some friendship drama in your life?

Dannah: I do!

Staci: Well, I’ll be a mushy peach! I think I can help you a bit with that. But, I’m going to test you on something you just said. 

Dannah: Test me?

Staci: Yeah, let’s review.

Dannah: Okay.

Staci: By now you may know our key verse. Galatians 5:22–23 says, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

Yep, we're getting it down!

Dannah: We sure are!

Staci: Remember, we discovered that one definition of the word fruit is: “The effect or consequence of an action or operation.” In other words, fruit is the result of something specific.

Trust me. We’re goin’ with this trip down memory lane for a reason, Dannah.

Dannah: Okay.

Staci: Well, because of that definition of the word “fruit,” we know that that phrase “fruit of the Spirit” means that those qualities—love, joy, peace, FAITHFULNESS, and the others—come from the Spirit. They are the result of Him! When He is present in our lives, so are these wonderful character qualities!

Dannah: I’m trackin’ with you.

Staci: But you just said “When we’re faithful, God turns messy situations into something good.” And then, you said you keep telling yourself, “Dannah, be faithful.”

Dannah: Touche! I see what you’re saying. Faithfulness, like every other fruit of the Spirit, is all about the God’s Spirit in our lives. It’s not about me.

Staci: Dannah, you trying to be faithful enough for God to clean up a mess in your life is like you trying to make a peach for the crisp. You ever make a peach?

Dannah: Nope! Done a lot of things, making a peach happen would not be among them.

Staci: Exactly. The peach . . . the stuff we work with . . . it comes from Him.

Dannah: Oh, that’s good! I see what you’re saying. The peach isn’t the peach, it’s . . .

Staci: . . .  the friend that God gave you to begin with. The ability to communicate with that friend is a gift God gave humans! The other friends God gives you to give you wisdom.

Dannah: We don’t even have anything to work with, without God!

Staci: Precisely! Faithfulness doesn’t start with us. We just pass it on. It always starts with God. Jesus told a story about this—do you remember it? It was the parable of the talents.

Dannah: Oh, yes! I know that one. This is a great time to open our Bibles.

Staci: Let’s read it, Dannah. Do you want to do the honors?

Dannah: Sure! So, this is the story about a man who was going on a long trip, and he needed to give his friend his money to take care of it. 

Jesus told it to teach us about faithfulness.

[The man] gave five bags of silver, to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, “Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.”

The master was full of praise. “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”

The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, “Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.”

The master said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”

Staci: Let me stop you there. I really love this story because it teaches us two things:

• Where our blessings in life come from—GOD!
• How we should handle them—FAITHFULLY.

That includes peaches for a crisp and it includes friends—both of which can be messy sometimes. We must be faithful. And when we are, the master says, “Well done!”

Okay, you may continue with reading this fine story, Dannah!

Dannah:

Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, “Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.”

But the master replied, “You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.”

Then he ordered, “Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.” (Matt. 25:15–29 NLT)

Staci: Ouch! 

Dannah: Yes, ouch! God wants us to be faithful with everything He’s given us!

Staci: And when we are, He gives us more blessings, more responsibility. Because we’ve proven that we trust in His faithfulness and we are trying to be faithful, with His help, like He is.

Dannah: This really does apply to my messy friend situation, Staci. God gave me this friend. God’s given me an ability to chose to love her, and to talk carefully with her about the hard things. But, what if my friend isn’t faithful with me. What if she’s given up on me?

Staci: That's a real possibility, I know. 

Something that’s really amazing is that God is always faithful to us even when are unfaithful. In Romans chapter 3, verse 3, Paul writes, “True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful?” 

Dannah: What’s the answer to that question, Staci?

Staci: Of course not!

That’s actually the answer in the Bible, Dannah! It’s almost like the writer was thinking, What a silly question to ask if God would stop being faithful! And then it reads,“Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true” (Rom. 3:4 NLT).

So it doesn’t matter how other people act, God will still be faithful to you, Dannah, because otherwise He wouldn’t be God anymore.

Dannah: Wow! That’s suddenly freed me up to stay in this messy friendship of mine. I mean, I feel truly convicted, Staci.

I've got to say, some friendships are so messy that you should build boundaries. It’s so important to ask godly advisers, but when you can and it’s safe, God wants me to remember that it’s not about me or her . . . it’s about Him! His faithfulness is what could make this situation into something good. I have to keep believing in Him.

I need to start believing the best about my friend, too. I can have faith in her because of my faith in God’s faithfulness.

Staci: What do you mean? You shouldn’t believe in people the same way you believe in God.

Dannah: Well, not the same way, because others aren’t God. But by believing in them, I mean that you see the best in them. You focus on their strengths rather than their weaknesses.

Staci: Which is really hard to do!

Dannah: It sure is—especially when friendships get messy!

[Oven timer going off]

Staci: Well, speaking of messy . . . Let’s see what God made of our messy recipe! Do you have any ice cream? I like a dollop with my crisp.

Dannah: Ooh, yes! Farmer Bob’s homemade vanilla coming up!

Claire: You know, being faithful is a big part of having responsibility. Like the parable that Staci talked about, with the servants. When you’re faithful to do right in small things, your parents or others will trust you more and give you more freedom with more responsibility. And when I remember that faithfulness toward them is faithfulness to God, that makes me even more eager to practice it! I hope it does for you, too.

Maybe you can ask your mom if she thinks there are any areas in your life where you could grow in faithfulness. Yikes! That’d be a brave question. You could also thank her for the areas where she’s faithful!

While you do that, check out this week’s recipe for peach crisp. Your mom can find it at ReviveOurHearts.com, where we store all the transcripts of our episodes. This one is called “The Flavor of Faithfulness.” 

Ever feel like being gentle doesn’t come easy? In our next episode, Dannah and Staci are gonna look at the Bible to see how a soft, kind spirit can bring strength and love to those around you. See you then!

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts, calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!

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Peach Crisp

Filling:

8–12 peaches, or an equivalent amount of frozen peaches

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Extra thick topping (halve amounts if you prefer less):

1⅓ cups brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 cup oatmeal

1½ teaspoons cinnamon

1½ teaspoons nutmeg

⅔ cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Slice peaches; there is no need to peel them. Place in 9x13 pan until filled about two thirds. The number of peaches needed will vary depending on their size. Sprinkle the ½ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon on top of the peaches.

For the topping, in a medium bowl mix brown sugar, flour, oatmeal, and spices. Stir in butter, then mix and knead with hands until mixture becomes doughy. Spread evenly on top of peaches.

Bake 40–50 minutes, or until peaches are soft and juicy and topping is browned. Serve warm with cream or ice cream.

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