The "F" Words

Here are the words I am thinking about:

Faith
Family
Food
Friends
Facebook

Talking about the F word is like mentioning four letter words. Both have been given a bad rap for years. My favorite four letter word is LOVE and second to that I guess would have to be FREE (another F word).

And there may be a bunch more, but this is a good start.

What order are they in your life?

Is Food on the top, or Family, or what?

Where is your Faith? I hope it is in Jesus Christ. And that you remember what it says in Hebrews 11:1 (NLT). "[Faith] is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see."

If we already have proof of its existence, then it is no longer faith. John did not need faith to know that Jesus was crucified. He was there and he saw it happen. He did not need faith to know that Jesus came back from the dead and walked among them. He was there.

"These signs will accompany those who believe: ... They will be able to place their hands on the sick and heal them." (Mark16:17-18 NLT)

However, John needed faith to know that Jesus is the way to life everlasting. He needed faith to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. And so do we.

I break family into different groupings. There is immediate family which starts with our spouse. In my case this is my wife, Dianne. After that comes those who are living under our roof. Then comes our offspring who are on their own and their families.

Food comes in two ways. There is the food we nourish our bodies with--those three meals a day we partake of. Some of us sneak in some snacks as well. What do we eat? Is it good for us, or just filler that tastes good? Many of us are more interested in the flavor (another F word) than the nourishment. As long as we feel full (another F word), we are satisfied even if we continuously gain weight because of it.

Then there is spiritual food. We even fast (another F word), the physical food and sustitute additional time with our Father God (another F word). Fellowship (another F word), with Jesus Christ is necessary for us to grow in our Faith. We grow in proportion to the amount of fellowship (relationship) we have with Jesus coupled with the action we take as a result of what the Holy Spirit directs us to. And not to forget the growth that comes from the relationship we have with others He leads us to.

When I speak of Friends, I include those we have a relationship with and not those we call friends because we work with them or see each other on Sunday mornings. Those are acquaintances, not what I think of as friends. If I have a need of any kind, I can call on my friends to help and know they will, even in the middle of the night. The list is short.

My wife is my best friend. There is nothing we cannot share and she is always there for me with loving words and a loving touch. After over a quarter of a century together, we still are not at a loss for words. Amazing as that seems!

Why Facebook? Well this is a Social Network popular with many Internet users today. It allow us to express our faith to a closed circuit of family and friends. We can stay in touch without having to pick up the telephone and hope to catch them home. We can see what is happening in each others lives, pray with them, see their pictures, and be included in their interactions with those they know.

Is Faith on the top of your list?