Joe's World

Faith or Hope

There is an old story about a boy who lived in a small village.  Since the village was centrally located, the circus would come to town every year for a month and perform each day.  This boy was captivated by the circus.  He loved the elephants and the tigers. He loved the clowns and the acrobats.  And he especially loved the tightrope walker.  The tightrope walker had a “trick”.  He would push a wheelbarrow in front of him as he walked the rope.  This man really impressed the boy and finally at the end of the month he got up the nerve to talk to him.  He told the tightrope walker how great and fantastic he was. He smothered him with accolades.

The tightrope walker smiled , said thank you, and added, “if you think I am so great, would you like to sit in the wheelbarrow for my next performance?”   No matter what the boy said, his answer to the question showed his true faith.

We can say we have faith in something, but do we act in accordance with that faith?  If not, I say that you just have hope.  You hope it is true.  When you act from faith, you come from a place of knowing.  So faith really comes down to one thing.  Do you walk your talk.  It  is action oriented.  Your best test for faith is how you act in the face of a potential negative consequence. For example, in my business, if I make a mistake, I can lose money to correct the situation.  So if I find myself hesitating to do the right thing because I am afraid to lose the money, I can see where I lack faith and I can correct it.

Since in many ways our faith defines who we are, it is important to look at what you are putting faith into.  Are you putting faith in higher principles and acting from them, or are you putting faith in some lower principles and acting from them.  Analyze your actions and reactions in your daily life and that will tell you about your faith.  Act from higher principles and see what happens.  After you have enough experience with them, you can speak about them to others and be powerful. 

You see, faith is as tangible as your nose.  It affects every aspect of our lives and does not live in some far away ideal world.  So study how faith lives in your daily life and make it tangible and practical.