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     Faith is the seventh of the nine qualities of the fruit of the Spirit.  Faith is used hundreds of times in the New Testament.  It is usually translated faith meaning a deep trust in Jesus as the resurrected Savior and king of His kingdom, the invisible church.  Faith is the initial motivation to become a Christian.  Jesus said “...‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:15).  Repent means “to turn.”  Jesus was speaking to the Jews who believed their relationship with God depended on their keeping of the Old Testament given by Moses on Mt Sinai, 1400 years earlier.  Jesus told them to turn from that to the gospel.
     The gospel is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus from the grave proving He is God (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).  That moment Jesus spoke was three years before His crucifixion, thus He was in essence announcing that He is the Messiah having arrived in the flesh to offer salvation from sin and grant eternal life to mankind.
     Acceptance of this gift depended upon putting one’s trust in Jesus first, which in turn motivated the believer to obey Him, first in baptism (Acts 22:16).  This is response of true faith.  However, the fruit of the Spirit is a composite of attitudes, so here the meaning of faith is faithfulness or trustworthiness.

     Certainly the citizen is to continue trusting in in Jesus, but it is this faith which causes the radical transformation of lifestyle (Romans 12:1-2) to glorify Jesus in his own life.  The citizen of Jesus kingdom must be reliable and loyal to God.  In the case of this royal citizenship, the citizen must be faithful to his commitment to follow the New Testament.  Faithfulness means being obedient to the precepts and principles to which a person implicitly agrees when he decides to obey Christ in baptism for the remission of his sins.

     Deciding to become a citizen of Jesus kingdom must not be taken lightly.  Jesus admonished, “count the cost” of becoming a citizen.  The cost?  He gave the most difficult example — it could cost one’s relationship with his family (Luke 14:26-33).  He said one must be willing to forsake everything.  In His letter to the church at Smyrna, he commanded,“Be faithful unto death” (Revelation 2:10).  The context reveals one must be willing to die for Him in the face of persecution.  Faithfulness is the result of true faith.  Have you truly committed yourself to Christ?

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