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The Bible says a lot about
trusting in the Lord. That phrase alone
appears 19 times in Scripture. We are
also told to NOT trust in ourselves,
material things, unbelievers, or anything we manage to accumulate in the way of
works.
Trust in the Lord and do good.
Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Psalms 37:3(NLT)
Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Psalms 37:3(NLT)
He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.
Psalms 40:3(NLT)
But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I
have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,and I will tell everyone
about the wonderful things you do. Psalms 73:28(NLT)
Why, then should we trust
one another? The Bible makes a clear
distinction between trusting in others for our salvation, and trusting
others with our love and friendship.
This we are supposed to do!
Let's notice from several
texts the reasons we should be trusting one another:
Reason #1 -- The Jesus Model
And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. Matthew 24:10(NLT)
Jesus was betrayed more
unjustly than anyone else ever has or could be.
Yet, Jesus entrusted His friendship, His love, and ministry to
Judas. Some say Jesus didn't know Judas
would be the one to betray him. He knew!
Jesus entrusted the Gospel
to Paul (1 Tim 1.11). Paul committed
these things to other good and faithful (but human) men (2 Tim 2.2). On top of all that, the Lord's ministry of reconciliation
has been entrusted to us all (2 Cor 5.19).
God is prone to trusting His children – we ought to trust each other.
Reason #2 -- We Are Brothers
And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is
saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own
will. And
we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those
who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in
advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the
firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he
called them to come to him. And having
called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave
them his glory. What shall we say about
such wonderful things as these? If God
is for us, who can ever be against us? Romans 8:27-31(NLT)
Indeed, who should be
against any of the Lord's children? We
are all fond of Romans 8:28, a great assurance that the Lord is working out all
kinds of good, even in the worst circumstances.
However, we need to go on and note how Jesus was the firstborn (favored)
among many brothers and sisters!
The word is adelphos
which means from the same womb.
Beloved, there isn't (in God's economy) a "them and us"
mentality. We are related, and ought to
behave as if we were one body. What
right hand ever cut off its' left brother?
Brothers sometimes have a
special way of relating to each other. A
man told of his two sons. The older one
had a date for the high school dance. "Since he would be working past the
florist's closing time, he wrote explicit instructions for his younger brother:
'Take this money and go to the florist at 5:15.
Ask for the corsage in my name.
It should have two red roses with a white rose in the center. Bring it and the change home and put the
flowers in the refrigerator. Screw up
and you die. Have a nice day.'"[2]
We should trust one another
because Jesus does, and because we are brothers in Jesus, and...
Reason #3 -- Satan Is the Real Enemy
Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last—salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters
has been thrown down to earth—
the one who accuses them
before our God day and night. Revelation 12:10(NLT)
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters
has been thrown down to earth—
the one who accuses them
before our God day and night. Revelation 12:10(NLT)
Accusing and confusing the
brethren has been Satan's main task since the Garden of Eden. There have been more problems caused by Satan
in the sanctuary because he spends more time here than in the brothels and
Mafia meetings. After all, he's got them
– his job is to get us!
Too many Christians exercise
distrust, doubt, impugning each other, treating each other as suspect. We are skeptical of each other when we should
be conducting warfare against the devil.
We are too defensive.
In 1952 the Dallas Texans
conducted their NFL football camp in rural Kerrville, Texas. They were a ragtag team that only lasted one
year, going 1-11. During training camp,
the first time a ball bounced off the field into the tall grass, none of the
players wanted to go get it.
The equipment manager,
Willie Garcia – who had a wooden leg – hobbled off to retrieve the ball. He called back to the macho football types, What
the heck. I've got a 50-50 chance the
snake will go for the wrong leg.[3]
Well, perhaps the body of
Christ is failing to see that if we just joined hands and stomped through the
tall grass of this age, that old slew foot serpent would leave us alone.
Instead of treating each
other like Saddam Hussein incarnate, we need to recognize Satan as the real
enemy.
Reason #4 – Since we are all brothers,
and Satan is the real enemy,
we can trust God to know
and take care of the
difference!
He did not retaliate when he was insulted,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
who always judges fairly. 1 Peter 2:23(NLT)
One of the great realities
about being a Christian is the fact that you do not have to know and figure out
everything. God has told us in a variety
of ways to trust one another. How He
works out all the details of betrayed trust, opportunities missed, evil to be
repaid -- that is all His problem. Ours is to be obedient. Ours is to trust!
As children bring their
broken toys with tears for us to mend, I brought my broken dreams to God because
He was my friend. But then, instead of
leaving Him in peace to work alone, I hung around and tried to help with ways
that were my own. At last I snatched
them back and cried,
How can you be so slow?
My child, He said, What could I do?
You never did let go![4]
Beloved, remember that Jesus
trusts you and expects you to trust your brethren, because Satan is the real
enemy, and God can still separate the two...and He will!
[1] Carl
Heinrich Bloch [Public domain], via Wikimedia
Commons
[2]David
L. Wright in Reader's Digest, 1988
[3]The Houston Chronicle, (12/24/1992), 8c
[4]Grace Current, (June 1994)
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