Where do you place your trust? In yourself? In your ability to control? In your job? In your finances? In your abilities? In your health? In what you can see and touch? In your thinking and your ability to reason? In your strengths? In your feelings and your senses? In your home? In your possessions? In people? In your training? In your experiences? In your plans? In no one?
If you place your faith and trust and security in something you can lose, then you’re probably feeling insecure. All it takes is for something bad to happen, and down you go. If you’ve ever lost your job, your health, your functioning ability, or a close loved-one, then you know exactly what I mean.
I spent most of my life searching for security and significance. I tried everything, and nothing satisfied me. Like many people, my ability to trust was damaged, and damaged trust wounds take a long time to heal. It took me forty-one years to finally surrender all the broken pieces of my life to God. My images of God, myself, and others were so distorted. They all needed restored. When I finally took the plunge into the sea of God’s love, I willingly gave up everything, and I decided to base my identity and my existence on the endless love of God.
I don’t know why it took me thirty years of “following Christ” to finally trust God’s love? Well, maybe I do know. When you’re taught not to trust, and you’ve been hurt by “God’s people,” then you fight a daily trust battle. Is it safe to…? Will it work out okay if I…? Will I get hurt if I…? What if I just procrastinate? What if I just don’t ask for help? What if I just handle it myself? What if I just don’t let anyone else know what I’m going through? What if I just do what I’ve always done? That’s not trust!
Faith and trust require belief. They require action! I have to believe God is trustworthy to wholeheartedly put my faith in Him. My image of God must be reliable, and it must be shaped by the truths of God found in the sixty-six books of the Bible. All of God’s promises are based and backed by His unchanging character. Jesus never changes. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus loves me. Period. But if I don’t know, or I don’t live out, the truths of God’s Word, then I’m not going to be set free. If I’m relying on someone or something else for me to be okay, then I’m not going to feel or be okay.
God is love, and He created us in His loving image to reflect His life and love to the world. You don’t need anything else in this life to find security if you’ve surrendered your life to God’s love and His saving grace. You can’t out-sin God’s endless grace. You can’t make God go away because you’ve messed up your life.
You won’t find true peace until you take the plunge and trust God’s love. God’s love is like a hot tub. You feel the intensity when you first get in, but it feels so wonderful that you never want to get out. God’s love will bubble up in and around you, and you will have to get out and share it with everyone.
What are you hanging onto that’s disturbing your peace?
Who or what are you struggling to trust?
Who do you withhold love from because you don’t trust them?
Who is your neighbor that may only discover God’s love through you?