Faithfulness.

The story is told about a promise made to a young hotel clerk in Philadelphia on a stormy night. The man, George C. Boldt, was the clerk of this particular small hotel. On one especially tempestuous evening, an elderly couple set foot in the lobby, inquiring about a room. There was nothing accessible; all the rooms were filled. On this blustery evening, each hotel in town registered with this same fate: no vacancies. Not wanting the couple to be put out, George C. Boldt offered them his room.

The couple was guarded about his offer, not wanting to be a burden, but the clerk remained firm with his generous offer. So they tarried for the night.

The next morning the man went to pay his bill and framed an implausible offer to the clerk: “You're the kind of man who should be managing the best hotel in the United States. Someday I'll build you one."

The world swims with such bold promises but few are faithful to fulfill their sharp requisitions. How we yearn for abrupt faithfulness among the masses. How we agonize over pledges that have floated off to oblivion. Yet this young clerk was able to witness firsthand the pursuance of a covenant, faithfully kept.

Years later a parcel arrived for George C. Boldt. The contents recounted his generous offer to the couple on that stormy night with an expressed thank you in the form of a round-trip ticket to New York City. When George C. Boldt pulled in, his host paraded him over to the corner of 5th Avenue and 34th Street. The elderly man waved his attention over to a gleaming display of New York City architecture; “I have built this hotel for you to manage,” said the man.

Promise kept! William Waldord Astor had secured the first manager for his new hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria.

That is a dreamy representation of faithfulness. But we have one better. William Waldorf Astor kept that one promise yet was human enough to let others fall. The Lord Jesus Christ has never uttered a promise that would not be kept. His promises never fail - He is forever faithful.

As we embark on yet another facet of the Fruit of the Spirit, we can be grateful that our God is more well-connected than William Waldorf Astor and can never fail. He is eternally faithful. We can count on each faithful word from His truth-filled Word. Our eternity rests on Him.

“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you . . . was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory (2 Corinthians 1:19-20).