take five.

How does faith relate to the world in which we live?


"Christians, what do you believe?"
"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His Only Son our Lord..." (Apostle's Creed)

"Life means suffering."
"The origin of suffering is attachment."
"The cessation of suffering is attainable."
"The path to the cessation of suffering."
(Four Noble Truths-Buddhism)

"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong." (John Lennon)

Faith. How could you describe this word? As I am pondering over the vastless list of words running through my mind, I cannot stop to find the word or the phrase to define this five-letter word. People have so many ideas of faith, so many things they believe. However, I see faith as omnifarious, omnipotent, and omnipresent. We cannot see faith, yet we know that it is real. And that's what makes it all the more extraordinary.

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1).

Many people think that faith has to be linked with a religion, something you have to believe in and devote yourself to. But I can name at least 3 examples, off the top of my head, where people display faith regardless of religion. You have faith that when you cross the street, when the walking man on the screen turns green, the cars will stop so you won't get run over. You have faith that when you jump onto your bed, it will be cushiony and padded so you won't break your bones while landing. You have faith that after devoting your precious time making a 20-page biology study guide, you will ace your test tomorrow. Or maybe not. Regardless of the circumstances, faith is all around us. In fact, without faith, our world would not be able to carry on. Faith is the foundation in all relationships that people build upon. It serves as a bridge on which people can share their love and feelings across to each other. Because faith is unseen, sometimes, we want something palpable to assure us of faith. Maybe this is why marriages fall apart, friends go their own ways, and businesses between coworkers fail. People lose their faith in each other, and they find materialistic and substantial things, such as affairs, gossip, and money, as replacements. It reminded me of a famous bible story of a wise and foolish man building their houses upon different foundations. The wise man built his house upon the rock and when the rain fell down, it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. The foolish man built his house upon the sand and when the rain fell down, it fell with a great crash because it had its foundation upon the sand. Faith is the same as this. It has to be built upon a solid foundation in order for it to last against the storms in life.

Faith has many forms. Omnifarious.

Faith is powerful. Omnipotent.

Faith is everywhere. Omnipresent.