The Fruit Of Faithfulness Series

Andrew Carnegie was the richest man in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. His life

illustrated both the positive and negative sides of the fruit of faithfulness. You would think that

faithfulness would always be positive, but the fact is, every virtue can be a vice if it is linked to the

wrong value system. Even love can be a vice, for as Paul says, the love of money is the root of all

evil. Carnegie had a love for money that made him faithful to his goal of becoming rich. He

ruthlessly underpaid his steel workers, and made them work 12 hours a day 7 days a week. His

labor practices led to one of the bloodiest strikes in labor history. In the town of Homestead, Pa. 14

people were killed and 163 were seriously injured in that strike. Carnegie made 40 million dollars

in profit in the year 1900, because he was faithful to his commitment to become rich.

But once he became the richest man in the world, he changed his whole perspective and decided

it would be a disgrace to die rich. He decided to give his fortune back to society. He found he could

not give it away fast enough, for it was growing so rapidly, so he formed the Carnegie Corporation

Foundation. 90% of his fortune was given away, and 3,000 libraries were endowed. 350 million dollars

were given away, and when he died in 1919 he had just 30 million left, and 20 million of that went to the

Carnegie Foundation for educational purposes. The other 10 million went to family and relatives.

Here was a man faithful in making a fortune, and faithful in giving it away. His faithfulness was

a burden to some and a blessing to others. Thus, we see the duel nature of this virtue which can also

be a vice. The Pharisees were faithful to the law, and refused to forsake their legalism, even in the

face of the miracles of Jesus. People can be faithful to cults, cruel leaders, and every form of evil

you can imagine. I read of how even animal faithfulness can be a problem. Jonathan Daniels was a

newspaper man who covered the races. The one that stands out in his mind is a race between 5

camels. It was at a Carolina carnival. It was an unusual race and people all over the state were

betting on the outcome. But bookies noticed that Arabs were putting all their money on the camel

named Ben Ali. They watched the race with eagle eyes for any sign of dirty work.

The race seemed to be fairly run, and all jockies pressed their mounts with equal fervor and

determination. Yet Ben Ali was the easy winner. Daniels interviewed some Arabs and asked why

they put all their money on Ben Ali, and one of them explained with a grin. "Ben Ali is what is

known in our country as a bell camel. From the day of their birth all other camels are taught to

follow the bell camel." These Arabs were not gambling at all. It was a sure thing, for they knew the

other camels would be faithful to their training, and never pass up the bell camel.

What you don't know can hurt you. That is why it is important to recognize the paradox that

virtues can be vices if they are focused on the wrong values. Faithfulness is not a fruit of the Spirit

if it is not directed toward the revealed will of God. There are people who are faithful to their

commitment to get drunk every weekend, or faithful to their commitment to play poker every

Saturday night. You and I can be faithful to buy our gas at the same station every week, or where

only brand of shoes for life, or a thousand and one other things. This is not necessarily either good

or bad, but it is not the fruit of the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit, which is faithfulness, is an absolute loyalty to Jesus Christ regardless of

the cost. Jesus put it plainly to the Christians in Smyrna in Rev.2:10, "Do not be afraid of what you

about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer

persecution for 10 days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of

life." Faithfulness means a lot to Jesus, and He will greatly reward it. This is the fruit that took Him

all the way to the cross. He could have been the world's greatest teacher, healer, and miracle

worker, and still have failed to be our Savior had He not been faithful even to the point of death.