Episode 106 - Balancing Faith and Action: Who Really Controls Your Success?

Have you ever stopped to wonder who truly runs the show in your life? While we're bombarded with messages about taking control of our destiny through relentless hustle, this episode of The Trust Factor offers a refreshing counter-perspective that might just change how you approach success.

At the heart of this discussion lies a profound paradox: we often lavish endless praise on those who help us, treating them as if they're the source of our good fortune, while forgetting that what comes to us was divinely decreed. Similarly, when we assist others, we might expect disproportionate gratitude, failing to recognize our role as mere conduits for provision that would have reached them anyway. This misattribution of power extends into professional realms too – consider the infamous "God complex" in medicine, where practitioners sometimes believe their skills alone save lives, forgetting the greater forces at work.

The secular world tells us success comes from working around the clock, juggling multiple jobs, and constantly adapting to shifting societal expectations. Yet this approach often leads to burnout rather than fulfillment. Instead, this episode advocates for a balanced perspective: making appropriate efforts while acknowledging the divine source behind all outcomes. This principle extends to health maintenance through proper nutrition, regular exercise, and moderation in all things – what the host poignantly describes as "living a balanced lifestyle." There's wisdom in recognizing "there's a time for everything" rather than pursuing extremes.

Ready to recalibrate your understanding of success and who controls it? Listen now to discover how trusting in divine provision while taking appropriate action might be the perspective shift you need. And don't miss our upcoming episode on Sunday where we'll explore how this mindset applies to generating additional income in your life.

Chapters

• 0:00 TGIF and Divine Teachings
• 1:07 Understanding True Gratitude
• 4:39 The God Complex in Medicine
• 8:43 Health Through Faith and Effort
• 11:29 Living a Balanced Lifestyle

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

TGIF everybody. Welcome to the Trust Factor. This is the one, the podcast, that guarantees your success when you implement its divine teachings. It is Friday, my friends. It's a beautiful thing. It happens very quickly, as you know.

Speaker 1: 0:14

Every single week we're going to wrap up the week with a phrase. I want to start off today with a phrase that's in the book that really sums up what we've been talking about quite nicely. It says one of the pious men once said I marvel at one who gives his fellow what the creator has already decreed that he should have and later reminds that fellow of his favor to him and expects him to thank him for it. And he says I marvel even more at one who receives his sustenance through another person who was in any way compelled by divine decree to give it to him, and who then humbles himself to the benefactor and flatters him and praises him as if the benefactor was his provider. You hear what he's saying over here, guys. He's saying a very was his provider. You hear what he's saying over here, guys. He's saying a very, very wise principle that we should all try to learn and live by, which is basically that we have to constantly remind ourselves who runs the world who pays the bills, who gives us health, who gives us life, who gives us wealth, who gives us all the things that we need in order to get through this life successfully. It is God and his loving kindness, his love for us and his commitment to us. He didn't just bring you into this world and say sink or swim, figure it out and I'll see you on the other side. That's not what he did. He brought us into this world and he's giving us the tools. He's giving us, he's sustaining us to be able to allow us to do the things that we need to do to achieve our stated outcome. But we need to be able to recognize where it's coming from, because if you don't recognize that it all comes from him, that he sets you up for the success, then you might foolishly come to think that you set yourself up for success or failure, and the masses will tell you that Society around you will tell you that only you are responsible for your own fate. Yes, we know that's true to a degree, but we understand it very differently. We understand that we are responsible in that we have to get up and make an effort, take an action, that we need to do, what that action is and how much of it. They will tell you that you have to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, that you have to have two and three jobs, that you need to fall in line and do all the things that they tell you to do if you want to be able to live a happy life, and, in fact, it is literally the exact opposite of reality. What they tell you is absolutely wrong. Why they tell you that? Who cares? I'm not getting into that conversation, but they tell you the things that slow you down, that don't allow you to succeed, that hold you back from achieving your fullest potential. When I say they, I'm talking about secularism, governments, secular governments, politicians, today's media outlets. They set you up for utter failure and disaster. My friends, the only one that sets you up for massive success is your creator. How do we know that? Because, remember, we've said, by definition, he lacks nothing. He is complete, he's perfect before he created this world and he's going to be perfect long after we're gone. My friends, he needs nothing. There is nothing that we can do for god that he can't do for himself. That's just a definition of god, right, he's omnipotent, he's all capable, he's all knowing, he's all powerful. So that tells you that everything that he asks of us is not for him, it's for us, it's for our own good, as opposed to the secular approach to life which is driven by man, by mankind, by humanity. They are the ones busy telling us what to do and what not to do, and that goalpost that they set up for us, it's constantly moving, it's constantly shifting. So when you think you're making success, when you think you're making progress, it suddenly shifts on you Suddenly. You're not good enough. Just look at technology. Look at how quickly things are changing, my friends. You're just barely catching up to the times and within weeks you're outdated. There's new technology, there are new ways of doing things. You know, suddenly we're living in a different world every few months. It's very, very different. It's hard to maintain a level head in this environment, my friends, where things are constantly changing so fast you can't even keep up. Here's the reality. Pump the brakes, slow it down. Remember who runs the show. I don't care how much money Elon Musk has. I don't care how powerful President Trump is. These things should not impact you. The things that you should be worried about on a day-to-day basis are the actions that you're taking in order to achieve success for yourself and your family, and your relationship with your creator, the one who runs the show, who created Elon Musk, who created Donald Trump and who sustains everybody, including them. My friends. Those are the things that you should be concerned about, and this statement over here wraps that up beautifully. Remember somebody does something for you. Okay, we have to give praise, we have to give thanks, we have to show a sign of gratitude. That is the normal way of functioning. That is even what's called derech eretz. It says derech eretz kadma le Torah, which means the way of the world. Basic human functionality predated the Torah. However, you want to explain that. What it comes to suggest is that nothing really predates the Torah, but you don't need Torah to explain to you that you have to be grateful. When somebody does something to you, you have to say thank you. Okay, so we understand that. So we say thank you and we put a pin in it. But there are some people who are so misconstrued in their approach to life that when somebody does something for them, they don't stop praising them, they don't stop thanking them, they don't stop thanking them. They follow them around as if they need to reciprocate because this person did something so big for them that nobody else would do. You had it coming to you, my friend. It was coming to you. Whether or not you know that, and whether or not it comes through this individual or somebody else, and whether or not it comes through this individual or somebody else, that what you received you had coming to you. It was decreed on high. All this person is doing is fulfilling God's will by giving you what's coming to you anyways. So say thank you and move on. Right. And it's the same thing with the giver that you're going to hold somebody hostage or make somebody feel like they owe you the world because you did X for them. Whatever you've done for them, they had coming to them. You were just the mechanism through which God acted. That's it. You are the intermediary, you're the one that delivers the final good and you're doing it on behalf of the creator. But that guy who received it, he's got to say thank you and then move on. If you're busy trying to keep him under your thumb because you think you're high and mighty, that you've done something for this person that nobody else could have done for them, then you're deluding yourself. Where do we see this most apparent In many industries, however, if you look in the medical industry. In the healthcare industry, there's a reason why doctors have something called the God complex. That God complex leads them to believe that it was them, it was their hands, it was their knowledge, it was their ingenuity or their spectacular capability that allowed you to survive in their care. You understand? So that goes to their head. After having saved X amount of lives, after having manipulated the human body to be able to bring it healing, they come to believe that they are God and they actually have a God complex. I've met many doctors who don't have bedside manners, and it's not because they weren't raised properly. It was because they've been doing this for too long that they feel that they are higher on the totem pole, that they are better, stronger, more capable than you or any other individual, and therefore they have a God complex Not a healthy thing. Let's jump in, my friends, and we'll finish off with an introduction to the next section, which, talking about the medical industry. There's no coincidence he's saying Now we're talking about what? Somebody who owns his trust in God, who lives a life of trust and faith in the Creator, how does that individual address the issues of preserving one's health, and you won't be surprised when he says we say the same thing regarding health and illness. He says that it's incumbent upon a person to trust in the creator in this matter while at the same time making an effort to maintain his health through means that, naturally, should produce this result. You have to do the things that you need to do in order to remain alive and healthy for as long as practically possible. That means you have to take care of your body, which means you put in good so that you get good. Don't eat junk all day long. You should primarily be consuming healthy foods. Once in a while to indulge in a little bit of a dessert, there's nothing wrong with it. But the vast majority of what you put into your body should be home prepared nutritious meals. That's number one. Number two you need to take care of your physicality also by getting exercise. Getting the heart to work, making the limbs move right. Sitting in one place, being idle, sitting on a couch, doing one thing, sitting in the same chair and not moving all day long is today. They say that's the equivalent of smoking, if you don't smoke cigarettes today but you're in your chair and you can't get yourself off that chair because you're lazy or you're uninspired. My friends, that is today's smoking equivalent. So you need to get up and you need to be active. You need to move around. Go for walks, you know, you see those people walking around the shopping malls doing the speed walking. Do whatever you need to do in order to maintain physically fit. Right Again, not seven days a week, it's not all day long. 20 minutes a day, half an hour a day. Get moving, get active. Do the things that you need to do to maintain your health and the opposite, obviously, is implied. Don't do the things that are going to come and harm your health. Stay away from all the constant junk that you're going to put into your body. Don't sit idle doing nothing all day long. Don't be involved in illicit drugs and opioids that fry your brain. Don't over drink when it comes to alcohol. It kills your liver. Right? Do things in moderation. Live a balanced lifestyle. There's a time to drink, there's a time to have fun, there's a time to be serious. There's a time to get up and be mobile. There's a time to sit and rest. There's a time for everything, my friends. So remember, live a balanced lifestyle, and that is going to be the trick to maintaining your health. We'll continue with this concept on Sunday and move forward into the second category, which applies to additional income, meaning you want to make more money. You work full time and now you're trying to get additional means. How does somebody who owns his trust view making additional income have an amazing Shabbat, my friends? It should be a meaningful one. You should be able to disconnect, to connect to your creator, and we'll speak again on Sunday.