Quote: God Light, 1

~ Do You Have Faith? ~

True Faith Involves Action!

The following is an excerpt from a book.

Driving to work without a concern, I cross over the large Interstate 205 bridge across the Columbia River—it was structurally engineered by civil engineers. I trust they knew what they were doing when they designed the bridge. Over the years the bridge was being built, the workmen followed the specifications exactly—at least I assume they did. I do not have the education to assure me the engineers did their jobs perfectly. Even if I did, I have no access to their specifications or drawings. I have learned to trust the I-205 bridge since every day without fail it has allowed thousands of vehicles to pass over to the other side.

On our spiritual journeys some individuals stumble over the idea of “faith.” They have no problem sitting in a chair and trusting it to hold them. Faith, or trust, in the spiritual realm is no different than in the natural realm. Based on personal experience or the observed experiences of others, we are willing cross the bridge.

Years ago as a young boy in a Sunday school class, I heard a reportedly true story which I have never forgotten. A tight-wire walker had set up his wire across Niagara Falls and a large crowd sat in bleachers on both sides. The crowd anxiously watched as he slowly made his way across the treacherous waterfall—carefully utilizing the long balancing rod he carried.

After making a roundtrip he asked the crowd, “How many of you think I could push a wheel barrow across to the other side?” The crowd was hushed; then one, and another began shouting, “I do!” He took his wheelbarrow, with its special cupped wheel, and again slowly, with anxious moments, made his way across and back again.

Now the tight-wire artist raised the ante. “How many of you think I could do this again, but this time with two 90-pound sacks of cement in the wheelbarrow?” This time, based on what had been witnessed, the majority of the crowd soon began cheering and shouting, “Yes!” He loaded the wheelbarrow and started across.

Once again, as in the two previous efforts, there were a number of anxious moments. Eventually he made his way all the way across and back.

Now he asked another question. “How many believe I could replace those two sacks of cement with a person and make it across and back?” By now the crowd had witnessed enough that they were into it. Almost instantaneously the entire crowd erupted with, “We believe! We believe!”

This time the artist looked directly at the crowd for a few moments until a hush came over them. His eyes began to rove and then locked in on a gentleman seated in the third row—one of the most boisterous of the respondents. “You! Get into the wheelbarrow.”

At this, the man rose, carefully moved to the front of the crowd, turned to his right away from the artist and took off running.

Faith is not an emotion or feeling. True faith requires a confidence. Just as in the physical realm, intellectual belief alone without action is not the type of faith—trust—required in our spiritual journeys.

The person who must “have all the answers” before acting will always be on the sidelines unwilling to act.

~ from “GOD LIGHT: Sunlight Sonlight, pages 97-99 (ISBN: 9780741475534). 

Learn more about this important book at Amazon, the Publisher, or the Author’s website.

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW