Sunday, November 25, 2018, the first day of the week most Americans started the early morning after a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend spending time with their families and friends and headed back to their place of work or home. For most, it was a busy day.
The day started early at 4:30 A.M for me, since I had to drop off our son Jesse at the Newark, New Jersey airport for his first-morning flight to Atlanta, Georgia. That morning I was surprised to see heavy traffic while approaching the departure sections of the airport, and asked myself as to how many people had a good time with their families during this important holiday? How about other families, who could not celebrate the Thanksgiving Day due to various reasons? Do we empathize with these families? Can a tragedy or sad news in the family steal the joy of good time celebration in the loved one’s lives? These were few questions, I asked myself.
While driving back from the airport to attend early morning church service, the thoughts on “good times and bad times, and good faith and good fight” in a person’s life constantly crossed my mind. Because during that week, we came to know a sudden death of a dear one on Thanksgiving Day due to a massive heart attack. Few hours before hearing this sad news, I had written and published a blog with conclusive statement stating that “I’m sure like me most Americans who emigrated from other countries and settled in the United States are grateful to God for His grace and mercy for providing us once again an opportunity to celebrate the Thanksgiving Day in our lives. Therefore, we can humbly acknowledge and concur with our forefathers stating that “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, Therefore, I hope in Him (Lam. 3:22-24 NKJV)!”
Today, Christmas Day I thought of those families who lost their dear ones during this year and empathized with them. It is tough for those families to celebrate this year Christmas because of the loss of their loved ones. Even in our family, we lost a nephew in early February 2018 at a very young age. For some sad times reminds one’s comforting thought of good times, but bad times for some have a hard time to cope with their dear one’s loss.
I think people who are comforted during bad times have an understanding of lost ones’ memories of his or her sincere intention to be fair, open, and honest, regardless of the outcome of the interaction. In my opinion, these defining person’s traits have a similar meaning known as “good faith.” The opposite of “good faith: would be “bad faith,” meaning, double-mindedness or deception.[1] In fact, in insurance law, the insurer’s breach of the implied covenant may give rise to a legal liability known as insurance bad faith.[2]
As we know “good faith” is an important concept within law and business contracts. It is my understanding that Latin phrase “bona fides” means “in good faith.” For some, the phrase “good faith “has a religious connotation, but as we know even in the secular world and in law it denotes moral states of honesty and conviction regarding either the truth or falsity of a proposition.[3]
I did a quick online search to find out the origin of “in good faith,” phrase. To my surprise, I could not find it, except Latin meaning of “bona fides.”Later I decided to search the “Holy Bible to see if there is any religious connotation to this phrase. Sure enough, I found it in the Old Testament. It is in the Book of Judges.
When I read the entire chapter, I was very touched by Jotham’s story. He tells the citizen of Shechem stating that “Have you acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves? Remember that my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian (Judges 9:16-17 NIV).”Finally, the curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them, because God made the people of Schechem pay for all their wickedness (Judges 9: 56-57 NIV).
To understand this phrase in its full context, one should read the entire chapter. Therefore, please read the chapter to know the meaning and its consequences. Likewise, I found similar phrases in the whole Holy Bible.
How can anyone exercise “good faith” qualities on a daily basis? Is there any fight between “good faith and bad faith” traits? If so, “are”good faith” and “good fight” two sides of the same coin? If that is true, then one has to fight a good fight to keep up the good faith. This indicates that whoever fought the “good fight” kept the “good faith.” As we can see that these two are directly correlated.
This is the assurance most of the loved ones have of their deceased person. Especially, believer who have faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who gives us the eternal life, and as per His word, He says that “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them (John 3:36 NIV).”
Therefore, believers throughout the world on Christmas Day sing by proclaiming “Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness! Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings. Mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die, born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.”[4]
As we know Christmas Day makes one reevaluate about this faith. Faith that gives us second birth, which is the eternal life, and this is the conviction believer have; therefore, we know that one day our lost loved ones will be meeting us at Jesus Christ’s prepared place because they kept good faith and fought the good fight (2 Tim. 4:7 NIV).
We wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
[1] Wikipedia
[2] Insurance bad faith: Wikipedia
[3] Wikipedia.org
[4] Charles Wesley, 1734