'F Words' - Powerful and Misunderstood

Filling in my holidays, I've taken a temporary job thinning kiwifruit (yes, in New Zealand we call them kiwifruit to distinguish them from kiwi people and kiwi birds), which has been mostly good, but it has been a little bit tough having to put up with the conversations carrying over from neighbouring rows.

My mum always said that those who used 'the F word' a lot must have limited vocabularies, and I am tending to agree with her. To these people, the word is used the way others might use 'um' or 'er' - as a space filler. Because of this, I get to hear the word quite often during the day, which kind of gets to you after a while.

Also, they're not even using it correctly! I mean, if you use other words, you have to know what they mean, and stick them in the correct place, or it doesn't make any sense, and people could laugh at you. Not so with the F word! According to the dictionary, it has a set meaning to do with sexual relations, and that has nothing to do with most of their conversations (luckily).

(God has been helping out, though. When I have been really getting sick of the language, I have asked him "Please do something about it" and have suddenly found a light patch of thinning, or a gap, or something else to do, and have moved out of ear-range. Thankyou God!)

However, the constant misuse of this word being loudly and frequently brought to my attention has reminded me of another 'F Word', one not so offensive but still perhaps not fully understood by those who use it.
The word is 'Faith'.

Faith seems to be thrown about a lot by Christians and non-Christians alike (although usually in a Christian or religious context). "If you just have faith," they say, "then everything will turn out right." Faith is claimed to be a cure-all, a miraculous way to obtain everything you ever wanted, at no cost to yourself. Those with faith will get the cars, houses, and men/women (all plural) of their dreams, and will be able to sit back in health and wellbeing for all of their lives, while the poor 'unfaithful' sit in the gutter lamenting the fact that they are not able to be rich.

This is not what it means! The bible says that "without faith it is impossible to please God." I know for a fact that many poor people please God (look at Job who lost everything, or Joseph when he was in jail, or Noah when his whole generation thought him insane), so having cars/houses/men/women etc is obviously not a requesite of faith. There are also many rich people who are definately not pleasing God!

Hebrews says that faith is "being sure of what we hope for, and certain of that which we do not see." Its that simple. Faith isn't having the ability to turn water into wine, or walk on water, it is simply 100% trust. For example, I know that God is real. I cannot necessarily show you proof, and I have never seen God, but I still know it. That is my act of faith. It is being certain of that which I do not see. I am also sure that if I follow God, I will go to heaven. I am sure of it, even though I probably only can hope that I'm right. It is being sure of what I hope for. That is faith as well.

The exciting thing is that this faith results in a lot of neat things. As I have said, faith doesn't mean that you can walk on water, but Jesus said that with faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. A mustard seed is very small (understatement), and so if I already have faith enough to know God is real and that heaven awaits me, I believe that I have that much faith.

Why haven't I been moving mountains then, you may ask? Well, God hasn't asked me to. The thing that you realise when you become a Christian is that in yourself, you are nothing, but with God you are everything and so much more! In myself, I can't move a mountain (except perhaps with a strong shovel and a lot of hours hard labour), but with God (who spoke and created the universe) it is a piece of cake. If I allign myself with God's will, and do the things he wants me to do, then he will work with me to see them happen. If he tells Peter to walk on the water, then Peter is able to because God helps him to. But, if I go off on my own, and think "I can move mountains" then I am going to be disappointed, because God is not in it.

Thats why I seek to do God's will, and follow where he leads me. Because I know that many of the things I want to do, I can't.

But God can.