Faith vs Hope: A Letter from Rockefeller

I've been thinking about the difference between faith and hope.

As someone who grew up a skeptic, shifting into a "faith mentality" has been genuinely hard for me. I'm the kind of person who rarely wears Duke gear despite attending Duke. Something about fanaticism always felt foreign.

And yet I've had tremendous faith in ideas and people throughout my life. It's faith in myself that I've struggled with.

Then I came across this passage from John D. Rockefeller's letter to his son:

"The most practical wisdom for success has long been written in the Bible, that is, 'Unshakable faith is enough to move mountains.' But why are there so many losers? I think that is because there are not many people who truly believe that they can move out. As a result, not many people really can.

Most people regard that holy word as an absurd idea, thinking that it is simply impossible. I think these people who cannot be saved have made a common-sense mistake. They mistook faith for hope. It is true that we cannot use hope to move a mountain, cannot rely on hope to win victory or make progress, nor can we rely on hope to have wealth and status.

However, the power of faith can help us move a mountain. In other words, as long as we believe we can succeed."

The biblical reference is Matthew 17:20: "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Rockefeller's distinction hit me: Hope is passive. Faith is active.

Hope says "maybe." Faith says "I will."

He continues:

"Confidence produces the attitude of believing in 'I can do it', and the attitude of believing in 'I can do it' can produce the abilities, skills, and energy. Whenever you believe that 'I can do it', you will naturally come up with a 'how to solve' method, and success is born once you successfully solve the problem."

Most people will think you're delusional if you have big dreams. That's fine. They're not the ones who have to believe.

You are.

Have faith in yourself. Deep in your bones. Not hope. Faith.

Then direct all your brilliance and energy toward making it reality.