Trust and Rely

Trust

Can we live our lives without trusting anyone or anything else?

I’m sure you have heard someone either in person or on tv, movie, book, etc. say “I trust only myself.”

But is that even possible?

Quick answer – no. Not possible.

Consider a normal day in the life of the average American.

You get out of bed. But wait, your alarm goes off. You have put trust in your alarm to signal at the right time. If you set it for 6 am, you trust that it will signal at 6, not 7:30.

Like most of us, you go to the bathroom to brush your teeth. You trust that when you turn on the water tap, water will come out. And you trust that the goo you put on your toothbrush, it is toothpaste and not poison.

So, there are lots more trusting in order to get out the door.

But consider some of the biggest trusting you have to do in your day. Whether you drive or ride to your destination, you are trusting that other drivers will obey standard road rules, like stopping at lights and more importantly, staying on their side of the yellow line. Seriously, you are trusting lots of folk with machines that can cause mass destruction (consider a multiple car pile-up resulting in explosions) to not use them in this manner, but to obey the laws of the road.

The amount of trust we extend every day is mind-boggling in we stop and think about it. When I buy a can of green beans, I trust that the contents will be green beans and not a different vegetable or worse and have been canned up to health standards and I won’t be poisoned by eating them. Although, those who don’t like the taste of green beans may think they are poison to the taste buds. Lol.

The point is – We all trust others and in certain things. It’s unavoidable.

If you’re like me, you’re thinking about the person who lives in the middle of nowhere, totally off grid, grows their own food, shoots their own meat, weaves their own clothes, etc. Surely this person trusts no one. Wrong. If they are using a fire arm, they are trusting the manufacturer of the firearm to do what it was created to do. But what if this person is a vegetarian and doesn’t shoot anything. Still, this person trusts that they own the land and no one will take that away from them. Or that the military won’t choose their land to run bombing training runs.

So why do people say they only trust themselves? I think it’s less about trusting than relying on others. Most likely, they have been let down multiple times by people that they should have been able to count on. And, if they went to church, the people there let them down, whether by inaction, degradation, judging them, telling them how horrible people they were. Or when they really needed help, no one either in the church or family and friends came to their rescue. They were left all alone and expected to make things work. Yes, sometimes that is tough love—making people take responsibility for their own actions. But there should still be love in that tough love, saying and showing that while they are facing the consequences of their actions, you will be there to support and encourage and love them through it all.

Consider little children. They are much more trusting than adults. Why? They haven’t been let down as much as adults. Yes, some have been let down and abused and have learned lessons no one should have to know.

It’s easy to understand why some people struggle to trust God. They have been let down so often by Christians or “religiousity Christians” so many times, how can they trust what these same people claim to believe? The church has made so many mistakes over the years (which will be discussed in future GodTalks.Online).

Even with all the proof in the world (there will be Talks on proofs in the future), it’s hard for someone to believe in God if they have felt let down by God (not meeting expectations is for another day) or by The Church, those who claim to believe.

So how do we show them God? How do they experience God? Little by little, through lots of love and loving actions. Because every time they experience the love emanating from God through us, they Holy Spirit moves in their lives.