"Trust."
Trust is hard. It is difficult for us to trust one another, to trust institutions, to trust our spouses even.
When I do premarital counseling with a couple we talk about intention and how they need to always trust the intention of their partner. While their partner may do something terribly painful to them, if they trust the intent of the other person who made the mistake, they will get through it. Just because we make mistakes, make wrong assumptions, or struggle with the other person doesn’t mean that we are no longer in a relationship with them. In fact, during those times it is possible for love to grow stronger, for understanding to grow deeper, and for us to believe in the other person even more profoundly.
We have to trust in that partner even when we may not feel like it. When we do this with God we are beginning to experience the true idea of trust. Faith in God is not predicated on how we answer questions, but on what we do when we don’t have answers to those questions. Faith is not about knowing, rather, it is about trusting. Trusting God in the midst of our doubt, our confusion, or just our questions. It is about finding peace that passes the understanding that we might have and the hope that we will understand a bit better in the future as we continue to hunt for the right questions and seek to find answers.
In some ways, this allows us to release some things that we hold onto a bit. We release the desperate need to be right. We release the arrogance of surety. We release the comparison of our faith structure to someone else's. And we begin to focus on God more than focusing on what we THINK about God. With this release, there is a generosity of spirit that is often discovered.
Maybe this is what Paul was talking about when he talks about “dying to self” in 2 Corinthians. Maybe it was what Jesus was talking about when he speaks about being Born Again in the book of John. It is this idea that we are going to put our trust in God, through our struggle, through our unbelief, and into a comfortability of learning to continually discover who God really is!
When I do premarital counseling with a couple we talk about intention and how they need to always trust the intention of their partner. While their partner may do something terribly painful to them, if they trust the intent of the other person who made the mistake, they will get through it. Just because we make mistakes, make wrong assumptions, or struggle with the other person doesn’t mean that we are no longer in a relationship with them. In fact, during those times it is possible for love to grow stronger, for understanding to grow deeper, and for us to believe in the other person even more profoundly.
We have to trust in that partner even when we may not feel like it. When we do this with God we are beginning to experience the true idea of trust. Faith in God is not predicated on how we answer questions, but on what we do when we don’t have answers to those questions. Faith is not about knowing, rather, it is about trusting. Trusting God in the midst of our doubt, our confusion, or just our questions. It is about finding peace that passes the understanding that we might have and the hope that we will understand a bit better in the future as we continue to hunt for the right questions and seek to find answers.
In some ways, this allows us to release some things that we hold onto a bit. We release the desperate need to be right. We release the arrogance of surety. We release the comparison of our faith structure to someone else's. And we begin to focus on God more than focusing on what we THINK about God. With this release, there is a generosity of spirit that is often discovered.
Maybe this is what Paul was talking about when he talks about “dying to self” in 2 Corinthians. Maybe it was what Jesus was talking about when he speaks about being Born Again in the book of John. It is this idea that we are going to put our trust in God, through our struggle, through our unbelief, and into a comfortability of learning to continually discover who God really is!
- What do you trust in?
- Are there things that you put your trust in unknowingly?
- How can you make sure you are putting trust in God before your understanding of God?
Recent
Archive
2023
January
Lovewell: A Theology - Day 1Lovewell: A Theology - Day 2Lovewell: A Theology - Day 3Lovewell: A Theology - Day 4Lovewell: A Theology - Day 5Lovewell: A Theology - Day 6Lovewell: A Theology - Day 7Lovewell: A Theology - Day 8Lovewell: A Theology - Day 9Lovewell: A Theology - Day 10Lovewell: A Theology - Day 11Lovewell: A Theology - Day 12Lovewell: A Theology - Day 13Lovewell: A Theology - Day 14Lovewell: A Theology - Day 15Lovewell: A Theology - Day 16Lovewell: A Theology - Day 17Lovewell: A Theology - Day 18Lovewell: A Theology - Day 19Lovewell: A Theology - Day 20Lovewell: A Theology - Day 21Lovewell: A Theology - Day 22Lovewell: A Theology - Day 24Lovewell: A Theology - Day 23Lovewell: A Theology - Day 25Lovewell: A Theology - Day 26Lovewell: A Theology - Day 27Lovewell: A Theology - Day 28Lovewell: A Theology - Day 29Lovewell: A Theology - Day 30Lovewell: A Theology - Day 31
February
Lovewell: A Theology - Day 32Lovewell: A Theology - Day 33Lovewell: A Theology - Day 34Lovewell: A Theology - Day 35Season 1 - IntroductionUncomfortable (S1) - Day 1Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 2Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 3Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 4Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 5Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 6Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 7Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 8Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 9Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 10Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 11Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 12Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 13Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 14Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 15Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 16Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 17
March
Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 18Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 19Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 20Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 21Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 22Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 23Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 24Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 25Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 26Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 27Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 28Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 29Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 30Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 31Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 32Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 33Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 34Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 35Campus WeekAfter - Day 1After - Day 2After - Day 3After - Day 4After - Day 5After - Day 6
April
After - Day 7After - Day 8After - Day 9After - Day 10After - Day 11After - Day 12After - Day 13After - Day 14After - Day 15After - Day 16After - Day 17After - Day 18After - Day 19After - Day 20After - Day 21After - Day 22After - Day 23After - Day 24After - Day 25After - Day 26After - Day 27After - Day 28
Categories
Tags
1 Corinthians 1
1 Corinthians
1 John
1 Peter
1 Samuel
Acts
After Series
After Serie
After
Belonging
Blog
Campus Week
Church
Colossians
Community
Compassion
Connect Group
Crosswalk Church
Crosswalk
Daily Study
Deconstruction
Easter Week
Easter
Elemental
End of Series
End of the Week
Galatians
Gathering
Genesis 3
Genesis
Group Study
Hebrews
Holy Wednesday
Hosea
Introduction
Isaiah 53
James
John 12:12-19:37
John 19-20
John 19
John 20
John 21
John
Jonah
Lovewell: A Theology
Love
Luke 19:28-23:56
Luke 23-24
Luke 23:34
Luke 23
Luke
Mark 11-15
Mark 15
Mark 16
Mark
Matthew 20:1-16
Matthew 21-27
Matthew 27
Matthew 28
Matthew 5
Matthew
Mike Rhynus
Paddy McCoy
Philippians
Proverbs
Psalm 31
Revelation 22
Revelation
Romans
Season 1
Series
Service
Small Group Guide
Small Group Study
Small Group
Timothy Gillespie
Triggered
Uncomfortable
Week 2
Week Four
Week One
William Johnsson
Witness
No Comments