my brother shared with me about believing in God and having faith in God.
he told me a story about a famous tight rope artist who was world renowned. This artist traveled far and wide, looking for new challenges and scaling new heights in his trade. So it came to a point where he thought he needed a a defining moment.
He decided to stage a show. The scale of the show was like none he had ever done before. He was to walk a tight rope from a sky scraper to another, high up in the sky. On the day of the act, he had a huge following of people gathering to witness this feat. Before that, he thought he wanted to stir the crowd a little. The crowd loved him. Lots of them admired him for his guts and skillfulness. Little had doubt that this new feat would be of any difficulty for him.
He addressed the cheering crowd saying, "My fans! do you believe that i can do this?" The cheering crowd clapped their hands and whistled, some shouting "Of course! Of course!"
Feeling like a million dollars seeing the support that he is getting, he decided to ask once again, "My dear fans! Who among you do not have a doubt that this is chicken feat for me?" The crowd went wild, cheering even louder, clapping and whistling. They all seemed to really believe in him.
The artist liked it. Feeling his ego swelling with the support, he decided to ask one last time before he steps up on the rope, "My dear fans, if you believe i can do this without breaking a sweat, cheer for me like there's no tomorrow!" The crowd responded, cheering louder than before. Clapping and stomping their foot! In fact, looking at the artist's past records, there is no reason to doubt him at all.
Suddenly, the artist fueled by the response ask a different question, "My dear fans! If you believe me, will one of you volunteer and i will carry you on my back and walk this rope!"
The crowd went dead. Suddenly there was no more cheering and stomping. Everyone looked around, thinking who would be brave enough to do so. Turns out, none of them dared.
The artist was utterly disappointed.
Finally, a little boy walked out of the crowd and volunteered. The crowd was impressed by the guts of this little boy.
The grateful artist took the boy on his shoulders and finished walking on the tight rope. The crowd cheered! For both the artist and the boy. Even though the act had been completed, he felt unsatisfied. The crowd was curious who this gutsy little boy was. Turns out, the boy is the artist's very own son.
When the artist took his bow from the crowd, he held him in his arms and thanked his son, for his was the only one who really had faith in him.
Thinking about it, we all seem to be like the crowd. We all believe in God and recognise what He is capable of. But how many times do we flee from walking with God in our lives. Depending on Him and allowing Him to take us on His powerful shoulders.
This is simply the absence of faith. We believe God can do it, but we seriously doubt that God can do it with you. We're afraid of the "what ifs" that we forgotten that there is no "what ifs" with God. Because of this, we stand outside greatness. We chose not to partake in God's miracles and providence in our lives.
I've heard of people telling me, "why are there so many people with testimonies of great and wonderful things that God is doing in their lives, but there is none that i can boast of?" I say to them, those are the people who let Jesus take the wheel in their lives.
There is a clear distinction between believing in God and having faith in Him. Believing in Him means to understand that He is God and that there's nothing he cannot do. Having faith in Him is allowing Him to impose His will and plans in your life. An act that compliments your believe.
It is very relational. Like that little boy, he not only believe his daddy could do it, but he trust him enough to know that his daddy could take him through it. Let us look at our relationship with our Father in heaven. Have it been the same case like the crowd? How many times, we rather believe in ourselves than to trust in God, relying on our own wisdom than His.
May we remind ourselves daily to lift our lives to God, giving Him the driving seat in our lives. Demonstrating true faith in our Father, who can and will carry us through it all.
