Tag Archives: trust

Siding and Deciding

Posted by Steve on

Have you ever started something with no idea what you’re going to do with it, or where it’s going to go?  Perhaps you had a canvas and some paints, and you set to work without any clues as to what the finished product would be.  Or maybe, in a frustrated and desperate attempt to be super-spiritual, you’ve prayed the oh-so-very pious “God, lead me to whatever scripture You want me to read today” prayer, and let your Bible fall open randomly to 2 Kings 9:20, at which point you decide to never do that again, because who is God to tell you how to drive?  Your road rage isn’t THAT bad…whose side is He on, anyway?

It’s also possible that you started writing a blog post without any plans for what it will communicate.  But I would never do that…

To start when you know the beginning, but not the middle or the end, is actually a simple task.  Because there is no distraction by way of details or developments, all you must do is decide.  Decide to start, and with each brushstroke or page turn or speed limit sign passed or word typed, decide to continue.  Nothing good may come of it…but you’ll never know if you never decide.

The same applies to trusting someone.  There is no real plan one can put in place to trust someone.  Sure, relationships are built and strengthened, but trust is not something you simply stumble upon or unexpectedly find yourself in.  Trust always begins with a decision.  You cannot trust someone unless you share something with them, or give them responsibility, and watch what they do with it.  Likewise, no one can know if you are trustworthy unless they decide to put you in a place of trust, and you are not proven trustworthy until you have made the decision to protect what’s been given to you.

Many people are waiting for the moment they suddenly find themselves in an intimate relationship with God, free from fear and doubt and skepticism, and defined by trust and love.  Some live their lives waiting for a sign that they can trust God; that He’s good, and that He has their best interest at heart.  But that moment doesn’t exist.  And the “sign” is already here—it’s called the Bible, and it is filled with stories and promises that point to God’s goodness, and His love, and His desire to be in a Father-child relationship with each one of us.  The only way to develop trust with God is to decide to trust Him.  There is no shortcut, and there is no way to ease into it.  At some point, we just have to make the decision.

I know that everyone has been hurt.  No one is free from offense.  If you want to, you can come up with countless excuses as to why God “doesn’t deserve your trust,” or why it’s too risky.  But the only way we can discover the “middle” and the “end” of trusting God is by deciding to begin.  Decide to start, and with each day lived…each situation encountered…each person interacted with…each speed limit sign passed…decide to continue.

Only good will come of it.  But you’ll never truly know until you decide.

Sent Out (Part 2)

Posted by Steve on

“Calling the twelve to Him, He sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.  These were His instructions: ‘Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.’”
-Mark 6:7-8

When Jesus sent His disciples out to do ministry on their own for the first time, he sent them with a lot of guidance that we should probably learn from, too.  A couple things from these verses that we need to be mindful of if we want to be as effective as the disciples were:

  1. You can’t do it alone.  Jesus had twelve disciples, but He paired them off…sometimes it may seem to us that God’s way of doing things will take more time, or will be more complicated, or just simply won’t be as effective as what we have in mind.  The disciples could have seemingly covered a lot more ground and done a lot more ministry if they had gone individually, but Jesus cut their numbers in half so that they wouldn’t be alone.  One of the biggest lies we can buy into is that the more spread out we are, the more we are able to accomplish.  Jesus knew otherwise.  He knew that the disciples would need each other; they would need encouragement, and they would need accountability, and they would need each other to fully invoke the presence of God.  Pride simultaneously convinces us that we are capable, and makes us entirely incapable.  God is King.  And sometimes we need to stop trying to be, and allow others to come alongside us so that we can accomplish things that are bigger than ourselves!
  2. You have to trust God to provide. God is waiting to fill us with His dreams and place His provision in our hands, but in order to receive we must first make room.  You will not have room for God’s kingdom in your life if your kingdom never gets smaller.  As Bill Johnson has said, “the further you go with God, the less you can take with you.”  Jesus didn’t want His disciples to take anything with them, NOT because He wanted them to have little, but because He wanted them to put all their trust in the Father so that He could provide for their needs.  Our dependence and trust in God is directly tied to our impact on the world, and if we do not need God for anything, we won’t know God for anything either.  But as soon as we make room in our hearts and put ourselves in positions of dependence, the Holy Spirit fills our hearts with holiness and our Father reaches from heaven to prove His faithfulness to those who love Him!