“And.” How many times a day do you say the word “and;” how about thinking it, writing it, or even acting it out? Does it matter? Maybe, that depends on what it means; do you know, or has our fervent use of this simple little word diluted our awareness of its presence in our everyday lives to the point where we no longer take the time to understand this word or the implication of its use, but instead insert it where we think that it sounds the most appropriate? Perhaps. As a conjunction it is used to connect words, phrases, or clauses that have the same grammatical function, to imply different qualities in things having the same name, to introduce a sentence implying continuation, to connect two finite verbs, to introduce a consequence or conditional result, to connect alternatives, and to introduce a comment on the preceding clause. As a noun it means an added condition, stipulation, detail, or particular; it also means a logical operator that returns a true value only if both operands are true1. Now knowing exactly what the word “and” means, can it possibly be used correctly in the above title “Faith and Life?” Does the word “Faith” have the same grammatical function as the word “Life?” Do they imply different qualities in two things having the same name? Are they connected, a continuation of one another, an alternative to each other, or each a comment of the other? Are they a condition, stipulation, detail, or particular, or possibly, even the logical outcomes of one positive returning to the other an equally positive result? A renowned teacher once wrote, “…faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not see2.”
No matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you believe, you have hope for your life and things that you are passionate about / have conviction for and therefore have at least a semblance of faith. The question you then have to ask yourself is “where did that faith come from and how do I live it more readily?”
The word “Interlinear,” which comes from the Medieval Latin “interlīneāre,” means “to mark or inscribe between the lines1.” What does faith, real faith, look like when it is inscribed in between the lines of the story of our life? And is that faith relative to our own individuality or is a part of a greater absolute truth?
That is what we’re going to find out. Next time.
God Bless,
Ross
1Definitions taken from Dictionary.com
2Hebrews 11:1
