Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.Proverbs 3:3-4
During 2026, Peachtree Church is inviting everyone into Cultivate, a churchwide discipleship plan centered on the fruit of the Spirit and the kind of life God longs to grow in us. Throughout the year, we’ll explore how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control take shape in everyday life through the Spirit’s work. Cultivate brings together worship, Scripture, group guides, and meaningful practices designed to meet you where you are and support growth in ways that fit your season. These twice-weekly devotionals are one way to stay connected, offering reflection and grounding for daily life with God. Whether you engage in many ways or just one, you’re invited to be part of this shared journey of becoming more rooted in who God has created and called you to be.
Devotional
As a child, the book of Proverbs was my favorite book of the Bible. In the first chapter, it begins with an exhortation of a father to a son, “Listen my son, to your father’s instruction…” Much of the book was written by Solomon. I imagined his father, David, teaching him some of these proverbs which he later recorded and shared with us. A loving, faithful father’s instruction and mother’s teaching are invaluable for the wellbeing of growing children.
One of the things I appreciated about these verses was how they bridged what are often seen as opposing forces: God and man. Scripture tells us that God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), a reality which you may have experienced in your own life. In Micah 6:8 we read, “… what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” But we know that there are many people in this world who don’t do that. A blind eye is turned toward injustice, and people are lovers of self rather than serving or extending mercy to others. This scripture elevates two qualities, both inherent in the fruit of the Spirit, which enable a person to win favor in the sight of both God and man. Those qualities are love and faithfulness. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Love and faithfulness are interrelated. When you love, it follows that you are also faithful. In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, as Paul describes love, he teaches believers that, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud… Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
To live in a way that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres is to live in faithfulness toward a person, whether that person is human or divine. It is the intentional choice to always be for the other, whatever happens. This is a divine attribute. God loves perfectly and so God can be perfectly faithful. Human beings love imperfectly, and so our faithfulness is also imperfect. God enacts his faithfulness to us through his unfailing promises and covenantal love. God promised Abraham that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. This covenant was not based on human faithfulness, but on God’s loving faithfulness.
When humanity was unfaithful, God was still faithful and came in the person of Jesus to uphold the covenant on behalf of humanity, that we could still be his people and he could still be our God. Through Christ, we still have access to God’s forgiveness, love, and faithfulness. When we recognize and receive his love and faithfulness, his Holy Spirit works in us to increase these very qualities in us, which we are then able to share with others. Through Christ, the love and faithfulness of God have been written on our hearts. Through Christ we are able to bless others and so win favor with both God and man.
Thanks be to God.
For Reflection
- Take some time to consider how you have experienced God’s love and faithfulness in your life. Thank God for the particular ways that his faithfulness has been made manifest in your life.
- How might God be asking you to live in greater faithfulness to Him and to others in your life, today?
Prayer
Good and gracious God, we praise you for your loving faithfulness. We thank you that you are a covenant keeping God who does not disown us when we are faithless, but instead you always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere. Your love never fails. May your love and faithfulness be written on our hearts, by the work of your Holy Spirit, so that we are able to exhibit the kind of love and faithfulness toward you and others, which we have received from you. Amen.
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Devotionals