Guiding Light: What is Faith?

Faith is belief in God and His goodness and grace. To believe in God is to know that He is present everywhere, in everything. In every man and woman and child is He; in every creature that breathes the breath of life; in everything animate and inanimate. Faith is knowing that God is too loving to punish and too wise to make a mistake, and that all that happens to us happens according to His Divine plan.

Faith is not blind, as some ‘rationalists’ would claim. Faith is seeing with the eyes of the heart. But alas, the eyes of the heart remain closed for many of us. When we open them, we will see that all that has happened has happened for the best, all that is happening is happening for the best, and all that will happen will happen for the best. There is a meaning of mercy in all that happens. God has a plan for every one of us, and there is Divine purpose in every little thing that happens to us. As the great American poet Whittier put it, “When faith is lost… the man is dead!”

It has been said that faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible. Faith is believing that God loves each and every one of us. He will provide for all our needs. Faith is seeking refuge in the Lord, trusting Him fully, completely and entirely. For His is the One Light that shines, shines and ever shines! Though the storms howl and the darkness grows deeper, His Light will continue to shine on us!

It is a triple faith that men need today: faith in oneself, for only the person who has faith in oneself can have faith in others; faith in the world around us, which is not merely just but essentially good; and, above all, faith in God. With faith in God, there is no height you cannot reach, and no distance you cannot traverse, no dream you cannot accomplish.

Dada J P Vaswani was a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader.

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