Number 8 on our countdown is: Trust without wavering.
{Love} 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” Corinthians 13:7
THE HORIZONTAL:
Wouldn’t it be great if we could have absolute, unwavering trust placed in us or placed in another? Actually, we have that when we’re born. We have no lack of trust. We completely, totally, and abidingly trust our parents (and anyone else). We don’t pop out wondering if our parents will take care of us. We have to learn not to trust. How sad is it that it doesn’t take long to learn? Humans let us down, some on purpose and some just by being humans. Add in the sin nature and the fact that our brains and perceptions have a few years to grow, and it’s inevitable that we learn to mistrust.
We get hurt; we expect others to hurt us too. Sadly, we then contribute to mistrust in others. Someone I know has been hurt by an ex-girlfriend (no, not my husband) and frequently brings it up in his new relationship. He sabotages the current relationship because of the hurts of the past. It turns into a vicious cycle. I know I gave my husband a lot of grief in the early years because I had a trust problem. My trust issues had nothing whatsoever to do with him, but he paid the price, as did I.
“Forgiveness 3” by Carlos Latuff. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Lack of trust does not show love at all, because real love trusts. Real love doesn’t hold others responsible for the breach of trust given by others. Real love FORGIVES. Forgiveness is not for the person forgiven, it is for the forgiver. In fact, the only way to keep from becoming a person who can’t trust is to forgive those who hurt us. It frees us to trust again. People usually don’t mean to breach your trust, just as you don’t mean to do it to others. When someone repeatedly breaches your trust, forgiveness does not say “it’s ok.” Forgiveness doesn’t mean staying with someone who abuses you or continuing to trust someone who can’t be trusted. What forgiveness says is this: “I do not have to let you tarnish every other relationship I have. I can free myself to love and trust. You will not change who I am!”
Do you allow your hurt to keep you from trusting?
THE VERTICAL:
And what about God? I used the word abidingly above on purpose. If you look up unwavering in a thesaurus, you will find the word abiding there.
John 15 talks about us abiding in Him. He is the vine, and to abide in Him, we must remain connected to that vine. We can’t connect and disconnect, trust and then not trust. We must remain connected, sucking up the nutrients only the vine can give. When we abide in Him, we grow. When we don’t, we wither and die.
This post is well-timed. I see so many who struggle with trust, and a couple in particular right now. After all, we all have people in our lives that let us down. Those who have endured abuse have even more reason not to trust. God is not human. How often do we project human failings on Him, though?
We project the sins of the dad on the Father. We blame Him for evil we bring upon ourselves. We pout and blame when we don’t get our way. We allow our trust to waver.
We also look at our own untrustworthy nature. BUT: God is, was, and always will be faithfuleven when we are unfaithful. II Timothy 2:13
“Forgiveness” by Carlos Latuff. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
says, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”
Thank you God that you are faithful, even when I am unfaithful. When I struggle with trust, You hang in there with me and teach me to trust again. I want to faithfully abide in You, and yet I am human. Father, I choose trust. I choose to love like I’ve never been hurt. I choose to cling to you as the Vine, the Nurturer, the very Life Blood. Bless your holy Name!
Do you abide in Him? Do you have trust issues that need resolved? Can you love like you’ve never been hurt? Do you have anything to add?
Jul 17, 2012 @ 08:02:26
Jul 18, 2012 @ 04:15:07
I just read your first line and let out a big sigh. Yes, it would be wonderful, wonderful, to love with a complete spirit of trust. What a better world it would be. I read somewhere that people who had abusive fathers have a difficult time understanding a heavenly Father that loves. Oh, the things we do to each other. We’re a world in need of healing. In need of love. Thanks for starting the movement.
Jul 19, 2012 @ 14:39:01
Aw, thank you Barb! Learning to love the Father without the lens of the father (and all the other lenses, like human understanding) is a wonderful thing. It’s a process for most of us. It is sad what we do to one another! I personally choose to trust as if I had never been hurt. It’s difficult (and not always appropriate in some situations that require walking away) but life is happier. I tell my grandchildren to flip that devil off their shoulder when he tells them lies about situations that happen (think ‘that’s not fair’ or ‘what about me’….) It’s a never ending process, but I hope I can plant in their mind that they need to check their perceptions against the truth when they feel hurt. Thanks for your kind words. Angie
Jul 18, 2012 @ 22:42:31
Jul 23, 2012 @ 19:55:30
Thank you Angie for a wonderful message with much Truth, without Love there is no Trust and without Trust there is no Love. The Kingdom of God is within us and God tells us to we must become as Children to enter the Kingdom of God and as you shared, young Children Trust, they are dependant, they are innocent.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 18:16-18 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
With all the problems we are experiencing one truth that I keep hold of is, that God will work it all out for good and so I do not give up but it is not always spontaneous, sometimes I’m hurt greatly by the abuse but then Jesus was known as a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and He got the whip out but He continued to Love greatly even knowing we were sinners and untrustworthy.
Thankfully I’m real, I don’t pretend and be Happy Clappy, nothing is ever resolved that way. Do I Trust, yes that Jesus will never let me down no matter what others do to me, He is my faithful Spiritual Husband and in Trusting Him I give others the right to have my Trust and they don’t have to earn it because I would never know when they had done enough. Yes I have been hurt because of this willingness to Trust but I have also made some deep long-lasting friendships with people who Trust me too.
What if people let me down, like you said Angie, I forgive, if they keep doing it I still forgive, I have never given up on anyone but I move on in Love, and in knowing Jesus heals and mends a broken heart and that He makes all things beautiful in His time, I Trust again.
Christian Love from both of us – Anne.
Jul 23, 2012 @ 23:28:05
Amen to that! No one ever said it would be easy, but it’s definately worth it. I choose trust. It’s not hard for me to trust God any more, but people are another matter. I choose to have the Mind of Christ, however, which means looking through the hurt and sometimes even recognizing that I, too, have hurt others – intentionally and unintentionally. No matter how difficult it is at times, I would never turn away from seeking to be like Christ in my life, for I see it for the treasure it truly is. I hope you got everything resolved. I know God’s got your back. Angie 🙂
Aug 26, 2012 @ 10:46:30