People
trust in many different things, sometimes without even thinking about it. We
trust that the chair will hold us up when we sit down on it. We trust that
water will come out of the faucet when we need a drink of water. We trust that
the sun will rise in the morning and the list goes on and on.
Many of you even trust your lives to things that have the possibility to fail. For example, how many of you have ever driven over a bridge, flown in an airplane or been operated on by a doctor? Some of you may even risk your lives and trust in certain material things just to have fun! Pull out the rope and continue, many people go mountain climbing, trusting their lives, in ropes like this. Other people jump out of perfectly good airplanes and trust their lives to a parachute. I think you get the idea.
It’s easy to talk about trusting
things, but I guess the most difficult part is to talk about trusting people. How many of us here find it difficult to trust other people?
There’s this quote I saw recently
that said:
Two reasons why we won’t trust
people:
·
We don’t know them
·
We know them
I don’t agree with both of them.
The first one: you go to a doctor, you trust the doctor, you trust the
prescription even though you might be seeing the doctor for the first time.
Then you take the prescription to a pharmacy, you don’t know the people who are
giving you the medicines but you trust them that they are giving you the right
medicines anyway!
The second one: That’s pride and
judgment right there. You think you know them enough not to give them a chance
or you’ve given them a chance but they’ve messed it up. Now this is a little
tricky and if you are not careful, you can end up losing great relationships
over time. Why? Because people change and just because they’ve messed up once
or even more than once doesn’t mean that they can’t do it right ever.
But here’s the problem with both
the statements: both the statements are focused on the other person. When we
say we find it difficult to trust someone, we tend to think that it’s because
of that person. In other words, what we are really doing is that we are
‘passing the buck’ rather the responsibility. We are saying that my reason to
trust you is based on your actions.
At the core, when you
think about it, trusting others becomes difficult not because of them, it’s
because of us. We don't trust people not because they have a problem, it's because we have one.
We can choose not to trust people but the truth is that life is a maze rather a journey that requires us to trust people whether we like it or not. We can get lost in the maze and not have a breakthrough if we refuse to trust people. If we decide not to trust them then the good news is that they can't hurt us but the bad news is that they can't help us!
Basic trust does
not mean the ability to believe or trust one another. It is the capacity to
hold your heart open to others. Basic trust is having an open heart. It is when you
risk being vulnerable, even when it hurts you to stay open and not close
your spirit. Basic trust is when you are able to move beyond the weaknesses in
others, receive God’s healing touch one moment at a time, and not run away.
So how do you
keep an open heart that is vulnerable to getting hurt? It’s only possible when
we put our trust in God and don’t depend on our own understanding about what’s
happening! Because now it’s not about them anymore, it’s not even about us,
it’s about Him. Trusting in God helps us to overlook weaknesses in others and
trust them.
When John had to
get a haircut, he wouldn’t allow at first because he was always so scared. So
he would always want me to get him on my lap. He would sit on my lap and
allowed the barber to cut the hair. Now, I get it:he doesn’t know the barber
and so why does he have to trust him right? But now
he’s not looking at the barber, he’s not looking at the scissors or the
machine; he’s looking at me, his father.
See, here’s
what’s so important to understand: we need other people in our lives and the
only way we can move out rather forward in our lives is when we are willing to
trust them. It’s not easy to trust them, true...but it’s easier to trust a God
who will never let us down.When our eyes are on Him, we surrender
everything to Him and as a result when we trust Him, it becomes easier to trust in
other people.
Trust in the
Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, Acknowledge
Him in all your ways and He will direct your paths. That’s a promise! That He
will direct our paths so we don’t have to try and trust someone again, we
remain confident because He is with us and no matter what happens we know that
He has things under control.When I put my trust in God, then it's no longer about the other person, it's no longer about me, it's about Him. So now I can put my trust in people.
Trusting in God
is letting go of our control and surrendering to Him. When we are no longer in
control and let Him take over then it becomes easier to trust people.
'An excerpt of the talk given at Plug In on 03/06/18'
