Got Faith?

One thing that I have been questioning lately is the depth of my faith. To understand where I am coming from, it is first important to understand exactly what it means to have faith. Faith is the belief in the unknown. It is to have complete trust or confidence in someone or something. I think it is easy to say that we have faith but proving it through our actions is where we will find the truth, in regards to the depth of our faithfulness.

How often is it that you pray for someone or something to present itself to you as a solution to your problem(s), then even after you recognize it or them as such, you begin to question whether it was truly the answer you were searching for in the first place. One of my all time favorite quotes is from Albert Einstein, he stated that “coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous”. Since it is rumored that Einstein was a fairly intelligent man, I am going to consider his wisdom as truth. Having faith is believing and understanding that there truly are no coincidences. Everything, both big and small, happens for a reason. Unfortunately, since most of us humans are meaning making machines, we can’t just accept our good fortune and take action towards the solution that “coincidentally” presented itself. No, because we are beings of “supreme intelligence”, we have to know why!

Imagine, if you will, a starving ape walking through the jungle who coincidentally stumbles across a bunch of bananas. Would our big hairy friend (most likely a distant relative of mine ) sit down next to the bananas and before quenching his hunger, try to understand why these bananas fell on the ground in the first place? Or better yet, could you see him leave the bananas behind as he continued down the path in search of his much needed next meal because he just wasn’t sure that those bananas were the right ones to solve his hunger problem? Of course not! That giant fella would devourer  every banana on the vine until he was fully satiated.

However, if we were the recipients of the same good fortune, we would go into “survival” mode and question every last detail about those delicious, yellow bananas. God provided us with a “survival mode” to protect us from danger. If used correctly, it is an incredible tool. The problem is that for many of us, including me at times, we don’t know when to turn the survival mode switch off. What often happens is that even when we know the bananas are safe or the risks are limited, we continued to do what I call “disasterbate” and focus our attention on all the possible negative outcomes associated with the bananas. Often times, the longer we “disasterbate” the more outrageously scary and outlandish the outcome of eating the bananas becomes. When we do this, we create so much fear and anxiety that we end up leaving our bunch of bananas behind for reasons like they weren’t ripe enough, organic enough or that they the may give you gas. Whatever your justification, the result is the same, you go hungry.

The crazy part about “disasterbating” is that you are so focused on all the potential problems and risks associated with your bananas, that you forget to consider and be grateful for the wonderful gift that God “coincidentally” provided to you. When we do this, it is most often out of fear. Fear, the complete opposite of faith.

So, the next time you find yourself living in fear or full of anxiety, stop and ask yourself…”Do I have faith?” If the answer is yes, proceed, enjoy and be grateful for your gifts. If your answer leaves you in doubt, instead of asking yourself, “what’s the worst that could happen?” (a survival mode question that most of us have been raised asking) ask “what’s the BEST that could happen?”, then take the appropriate action.

Have a great day!

Kevin