“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” - Galatians 5:22-23
I’ve been thinking about faithfulness for the last couple of days. Of course, there’s always the classic philosopher’s approach: What is faithfulness? But I honestly felt like when I was reading the other day that I had no idea what it really meant. It was just a word that I had heard over and over and associated it as a Good Thing, but I had missed learning its meaning.
And so I started to dissect it: What does faithful mean? Its face value, of course, is full of faith. But while I think that is one meaning of the word, it’s not the first meaning that comes to my mind. When I think of someone who is faithful (or not faithful), the first situation that comes to my mind is marriage. Is he a faithful husband or isn’t he? So it seems, the most common meaning, in my understanding, of faithful is something more like worthy of putting one’s faith in.
So why have English speakers come to call these two things by the same word? At first it seemed to me that it was simply a coincidence, or perhaps a misuse of the word that fell into common usage. But upon further reflection, it occurred to me that perhaps it was because these two things were somehow understood to be closely related, intertwined in some way.
Maybe what we’ve realized is this: faith is like a foundation. Someone who is full of faith, who has placed their faith in something firm and solid, is someone who is worthy of putting faith in in turn, just like a house is only as stable as the foundation it is built upon. Or, really maybe I should just shut up and let Jesus speak:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” - Matthew 7:24-27
November 12th, 2006
I went to a concert tonight–The Dave Brubeck Quartet and the Yale Camarata in Woolsey Hall. It was just absolutely amazing… I was in there thinking… “Wow this is amazing… Maybe I should have spent a few less talent points on videogames and a few more on music…”
P.S. If you’ve never heard of The Dave Brubeck Quartet, get “Take Five” and listen to it. Now.
October 9th, 2006
So, I didn’t have much time before class today… I was going to grab lunch at work, but we were really busy today, so I didn’t have time to eat anything. I just swiped quickly at the Silliman side of Commons and grabbed an apple and a tortilla on my way through. I got to class and ate the apple and then had the core left. So I thought to myself, “Hmmm… I’m going to have to hold this thing the whole class period.” So I decided to just go through with it and eat the core. So that was difficult, but I accomplished it.
However, upon further examination on the internet, it turns out apple seeds contain cyanide…
October 2nd, 2006
I liked this:
Fashion
September 21st, 2006
This is an interesting article about how much we actually save by shopping around for gas. I calculated it out one time this summer, and if I bought gas in Cambria where it’s 10 cents more expensive than in Morro Bay, and I buy 18 gallons, it costs me an extra $2. On the other hand, at >$3 a gallon, it costs me a gallon of gas just to get to Morro Bay.
Gas Prices in Perspective
On the other hand, as the other article quantitatively demonstrates, one can easily save 3-4 times the amount by spending as much time worrying about for example, pharmaceutical prices instead of gas prices.
So why is it we worry so much about gas and not about other expenses? Is it because we feel forced to pay for the gas, but feel like we are choosing to spend money on other things, such as electronics, movies, and video games? Or is it simply because gas is a purchase we make all by itself, and we can see the price from the highway before we even get there? Or maybe it’s because we have so much time to think about it while we’re waiting for it to pump?
From the Cincinnati Enquirer:
September 18th, 2006
If each of the 110 Million households in America replaced just one 60 Watt bulb with a Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb, the environmental impact of the energy saved would be the equivalent of taking 1.3 million cars off of the roads. The typical house has 50-100 lightbulbs.
Always do it.
Wal-Mart is about to make a big push to get these things out into American homes. Imagine the effect it could have if it uses its power for good.
How Many Lightbulbs Does it Take to Change the World? One. And You’re Looking At It.
August 30th, 2006
This is a crazy story: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=11211166&sid=1
I don’t know how Canada’s laws work, but if this happened here, I pretty much wouldn’t answer any of those personal questions. That’s just an abuse of authority.
August 27th, 2006
I’ve been listening to some sample sermons by Dr. Tim Keller of Redeemer. He’s a very gifted speaker. I guess I can’t really know, but I think I would even find his sermons interesting to listen to if I weren’t a Christian. I listened to this one — “Blessed are the Poor” — and I thought it was a really good message.
June 23rd, 2006
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