When I examine my life, I find I have had an abiding conviction that Jesus is the son of God, but that is very different as compared to trusting God. Trust requires more than belief, it requires a willingness to demonstrate one's belief. Trust requires you put skin in the game and not just mentally ascent to a belief or notion.
When you trust, you take action. For example, every morning during the week, we awake and go off to work. We commute several miles because we trust that our actions and efforts will lead to a pay check. We expect and trust that a direct deposit will be placed in our checking account. Such actions are in fact, expressions of trust because they are accompanied by action and not mere belief. Belief requires no action but merely agreement. Trust requires a demonstration of action that is predicated on one's belief.
So I know how to demonstrate actions that constitute trust for the belief I will have a pay check every two weeks... even though there are any number of interventions that could potentially interfere with that becoming a reality (I could croak in my sleep, or have an accident on the freeway, or simply get fired for performance reasons, etc).
And yet non of those potential possibilities deter my belief that leads to my actions to get up and go to work because I trust in the outcome of receiving my bi-weekly compensation. I'm pretty sure you do the same thing and the point is we take action based on our trust our actions will result in a future outcome (even though we have no real assurance that it will).
We trust in our money, guns, democracy, military capabilities, technology, etc... Notice that all these things are tangible (IE, they are easily seen, felt, heard, expressed or other wise experienced by our senses).
But then there is this invisible God...who says that He is a rewarder of those believe He is, and who diligently seek after Him...We are told we can access Him through the measure of faith in His son; Jesus Christ and through believing what He died for us on the cross for our sins, and has risen from the grave.
We want to trust in God but why is that so hard for some of us? What does it mean to trust? What are some inhibitors that make it difficult for us to trust God? And is this not our responsibility to resolve? I don't presume to have all the answers for this dilemma (and to be sure there are many more inhibitors). I thought I would offer a few to explore, analyze and propose solutions to:
1) We find it hard to trust because we are fearful.
2) We find it hard because we listen to the voice of doubt.
3) We don't practice activities that instill or build our trust in Him.
When you trust, you take action. For example, every morning during the week, we awake and go off to work. We commute several miles because we trust that our actions and efforts will lead to a pay check. We expect and trust that a direct deposit will be placed in our checking account. Such actions are in fact, expressions of trust because they are accompanied by action and not mere belief. Belief requires no action but merely agreement. Trust requires a demonstration of action that is predicated on one's belief.
So I know how to demonstrate actions that constitute trust for the belief I will have a pay check every two weeks... even though there are any number of interventions that could potentially interfere with that becoming a reality (I could croak in my sleep, or have an accident on the freeway, or simply get fired for performance reasons, etc).
And yet non of those potential possibilities deter my belief that leads to my actions to get up and go to work because I trust in the outcome of receiving my bi-weekly compensation. I'm pretty sure you do the same thing and the point is we take action based on our trust our actions will result in a future outcome (even though we have no real assurance that it will).
We trust in our money, guns, democracy, military capabilities, technology, etc... Notice that all these things are tangible (IE, they are easily seen, felt, heard, expressed or other wise experienced by our senses).
But then there is this invisible God...who says that He is a rewarder of those believe He is, and who diligently seek after Him...We are told we can access Him through the measure of faith in His son; Jesus Christ and through believing what He died for us on the cross for our sins, and has risen from the grave.
We want to trust in God but why is that so hard for some of us? What does it mean to trust? What are some inhibitors that make it difficult for us to trust God? And is this not our responsibility to resolve? I don't presume to have all the answers for this dilemma (and to be sure there are many more inhibitors). I thought I would offer a few to explore, analyze and propose solutions to:
1) We find it hard to trust because we are fearful.
2) We find it hard because we listen to the voice of doubt.
3) We don't practice activities that instill or build our trust in Him.
1) We find it hard to trust because we are fearful.
Researchers say babies are born with only two fears (1) the fear of loud noises and (2) the fear of falling. All other fears are therefore presumed to be learned. An acrostic for FEAR is: False Evidence Appearing Real. I don't know who originally coined this acrostic (nor is that important) but the implications of it are very significant. Many people in the bible were fearful and they either failed to attain what God had desired for them, or they simply missed the mark of what they otherwise could have attained.
2) We find it hard because we listen to the voice of doubt.
I don't know why God developed a system that requires faith in Him and that Jesus is His Son, but that is the way it is structured. When you are the boss, you don't really have to explain your rules (not that our tiny minds could really understand them). When you are the boss, you explain your policies and rules and that communicates the expectation for the employees to follow. So much of what the bible states is counter intuitive to our minds because our minds are naturally carnal or worldly. We doubt things that don't make sense to our frame of reference. So when we read about God becoming a man and dying on the cross for our sins, our minds struggle with trying to understand...and we doubt. We doubt that we can accept such an explanation for how the world came to be and it makes no sense to pray or have telepathic communication with an invisible being in hopes that our thoughts, hopes and aspirations would be heard and understood...and yet this is the system God established for us to access Him.
We doubt the things we don't understand, even if those things are true. Some of us struggle to come to a place where we accept what the definition of 'truth' is. Some think its subjective; what is true for you is fine and what is true for me (while it may be different) is fine too. So we rationalize that we can have different 'truths' as it pertains the the same subject. This is the basis for 'all roads lead to the same place' argument. The notion of a single and absolute truth is intuitive up to the point that it does not fit our desired opinion of what we want the truth to be...the bible tells us that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and those that would worship Him must do so in Spirit and in Truth. This means in order to know God, you must believe and accept there is one version of the truth.
I don't know why God developed a system that requires faith in Him and that Jesus is His Son, but that is the way it is structured. When you are the boss, you don't really have to explain your rules (not that our tiny minds could really understand them). When you are the boss, you explain your policies and rules and that communicates the expectation for the employees to follow. So much of what the bible states is counter intuitive to our minds because our minds are naturally carnal or worldly. We doubt things that don't make sense to our frame of reference. So when we read about God becoming a man and dying on the cross for our sins, our minds struggle with trying to understand...and we doubt. We doubt that we can accept such an explanation for how the world came to be and it makes no sense to pray or have telepathic communication with an invisible being in hopes that our thoughts, hopes and aspirations would be heard and understood...and yet this is the system God established for us to access Him.
We doubt the things we don't understand, even if those things are true. Some of us struggle to come to a place where we accept what the definition of 'truth' is. Some think its subjective; what is true for you is fine and what is true for me (while it may be different) is fine too. So we rationalize that we can have different 'truths' as it pertains the the same subject. This is the basis for 'all roads lead to the same place' argument. The notion of a single and absolute truth is intuitive up to the point that it does not fit our desired opinion of what we want the truth to be...the bible tells us that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and those that would worship Him must do so in Spirit and in Truth. This means in order to know God, you must believe and accept there is one version of the truth.
3) We don't practice activities that instill or build our trust in Him.
Have you noticed that even the greatest sports athletes must practice in order to stay on top of their game? They will often practice the fundamentals of their sport until it is second nature and from there, they can improvise having already internalized what they need to do from a foundational standpoint. This allows a basket ball player to step up to the foul line and have greater confidence, or trust that he or she will sink those clutch free throws and win the game. It also allows for their teammates to share that same trust for the game's outcome. You see, it is the practice of free throws that builds the trust that when one needs to make them in a game setting, those shots will be made. I believe there is a correlation between practicing activities that build confidence in sports and doing the same in the 'game of life'. And when it comes to trusting God, we have an opportunity to perform or practice activities that will build our confidence or trust in Him as well. The bible states 'faith without works is dead' which implies that one must perform works to accompany one's stated faith. The works, or the action is the 'active' ingredient that becomes the building blocks upon which greater trust and confidence can be derived.
Have you noticed that even the greatest sports athletes must practice in order to stay on top of their game? They will often practice the fundamentals of their sport until it is second nature and from there, they can improvise having already internalized what they need to do from a foundational standpoint. This allows a basket ball player to step up to the foul line and have greater confidence, or trust that he or she will sink those clutch free throws and win the game. It also allows for their teammates to share that same trust for the game's outcome. You see, it is the practice of free throws that builds the trust that when one needs to make them in a game setting, those shots will be made. I believe there is a correlation between practicing activities that build confidence in sports and doing the same in the 'game of life'. And when it comes to trusting God, we have an opportunity to perform or practice activities that will build our confidence or trust in Him as well. The bible states 'faith without works is dead' which implies that one must perform works to accompany one's stated faith. The works, or the action is the 'active' ingredient that becomes the building blocks upon which greater trust and confidence can be derived.
