Trust is an issue and a subject that can mean a variety of things to different people. Whether we are talking about our children, spouses, co-workers, parents, or even our friends.
What are we really talking about when we use the term TRUST?
For some of us we might think of believing in the another person, believing that they will be honest and reliable.
Can everyone be trusted? You might say "No."
How about: Can anyone be trusted? Think about it for a minute. Have you even been dishonest, or even unreliable?
I have for sure, I try not to be, but boy have I. So does that make me untrustworthy? I sure hope I am not considered so.
I often think about how God looks at us. To what standard does he hold us up to in regard to being Trusting or Not? Have we ever let him down? Sure we have, but is He willing to place his trust in us even though we have failed him? Sure.
Think about the people in our lives that have let us down, are we willing to place our trust back with them again? If not, are we holding others to a higher standard than God holds us to?
This can be a tricky issue, many might say, "well I don't want to just be used by others," or "I don't want to be walked all over by people." And I can understand that concept, but back again to God and his possible view of this issue, what would He say?
Jesus was once asked how many times must we forgive, didn't he say "70 times 7 times?" I have to admit, anything after 3 is pretty difficult for me.
But what is the message here? We all want the opportunity to redeem ourselves. If not given the chance, how could we accomplish this task. Somewhere I remember the verse, "Judge not that you may not be judged."
On the other hand, the person who acted in such a negative manner must possess a certain level of shame, grief, guilt, and remorse, and have a contrite heart. If not, what is really happening here? We might be right back to the concern of being used by others again.
But how does one know another's heart? Often we do not. It comes back to our own personal philosophy of faith. Maybe even our desire that everyone wants and should be able to be a good person. I have often heard that to be a trusting person is to be trusting of others. To see the world through eyes of trust, we must have the understanding that people are and want to be trusted.
Then older I become the more forgiving I also become. Yes, people often say and do things to me that fracture my trust in them, at least temporarily. But I want to trust people. I want to live in a world that people trust each other. I want to feel that this world that surrounds me is filled with good people. You might say this is a "Pollyanna" attitude, but what is the alternative, a cynical attitude, and a belief that the world is full of evil and mean people. That might be true in some regard, but I can't believe that God made us to be such. I can't believe that if we were made in the image and likeness of God that it could resemble such.
To Trust is to believe in someone and something. Do we fall from time to time? Yes! Some of us more often than others, but we can also get back up and strive to be a better person again, to learn, to repent, to ask for forgiveness, and to accept the mercy of others. It is often through being the recipient of mercy that it inspires mercy to be given by us.
To Trust is to Believe - - I Believe!
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