Monday, 01 February 2010 13:21
Today's post opens a new series in my blog. If you've visited before you'll know that I have one series devoted to stories of Christian hospitality which I receive in response to my request that the people of Grace Baptist invite others home from church for lunch once-a-month. I am gearing up for another series to continue the discussion about The Manhattan Declaration which I highlighted in my sermon on January 24.
This series revolves around the issue of trust. I coach a basketball team made up of middle school girls. A parent approached me at practice recently and commented that the team dribbled too much and neglected the pass. I agreed but quickly noted that the problem was a trust issue. Players tend to dribble more when they fear that a teammate will fail to catch or keep the basketball. Coaches can work on passing skills. It's a lot harder to build trust.
My observations from the bench serve as a parable for what I perceive is an epidemic among people in general and the church in particular. We don't trust each other. Any amateur analyst could quickly identify a myriad of reasons for this condition. Politicians and marriage partners break promises. Society's love affair with lawsuits means everyone's looking over the shoulder. Identity theft is rampant. People give their word and then fail to follow-through.
The side-effects of this trust deficit are evident to me. Cynicism is on the rise. We're certain that we can't take anything at face value. There must be a hidden agenda or alterior motive in other people. This is closely related to the side-effect of suspicion. We're suspicious of everyone, even people without any track record of deception. Both of these lead to isolation. We conclude that the circle of people to be trusted is shrinking. It may get down to a circle of one. The only way to survive is to trust no one.
Authority and people in authority are some of the most obvious targets of this plague. We live in a climate that is suspicious of authority. But those in authority are also prone to mistrust others. The most obvious evidence of this is the perennial conflict that we call the U.S. Congress where neither party trusts any member of the other party, majority or minority.
These are not academic issues. They affect me everyday. I see symptoms of this disease in my own life. This relates to the very core of the Christian faith which includes the conviction that God is completely trustworthy and insists that we as his creatures be like Him. So I'd like to carry on a discussion here. Please join in. Comment and extend the conversation as you are able. In my next installment I'd like to explore the implicit challenge of trusting other sinners. Stay tuned.
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Comments
However, as you pointed out in your basketball scenario, everyone can be trustworthy and still no one would pass the ball because no one trusts the others. The problem is US not trusting THEM. Even when that person is completely trustworthy--as is the case with God--we still often find ourselves not trusting him. The problem isn't HIS trustworthiness but MY willingness to trust him...(cont.)
We can imitate his trust in himself, but how do we learn from him to trust others when he himself never does? Or does he?
In truth God did in fact "pass us the ball". When Christ departed unto to Heaven He left it up to 12 men to establish His chirch or continue the work He began. He knew them to be imperfect, and certainly not infused with all of his power. Our problem in the modern church is that "WE" the people of God follow other "PEOPLE". We are members of an other worldly organization or body (Gods Kingdom) but we walk in and of the world. God called us to wise as serpents yet gentle as doves, we have been called out yet we want to live in... God trusts us, it's the other way around our faith is so small we don't trust HIM. When God healed my son "I" didn\'t see it for what it was, it was a healing just not the way "I" envisioned it to be. That's our problem we see things not as God does but as we do, and our vision is imperfect, our thoughts imperfect, but God still "trusts us to strive for perfection".
"To serve the Living God", it is our highest calling and should be our greatest pleasure! (Words I wish I would remember myself, when I walk in the ways of this world)
Thank you for your thoughts, Anonymous! I have some problems reconciling this with verses like Matt. 16:18 "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Though the church will be built on the rock of this apostle after Jesus is gone, Jesus says "I" will build my church...not "you" will build my church.
Also, for example, 1 Cor. 15:10 "I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." Paul is speaking in context of being called as an apostle (with the other apostles) to build the church. God "entrusted" him with the office of apostle--and Paul himself even says "I worked"--but as if to immediately eliminate any wrong conclusions, he says "though it was not I"...but the "grace of God" that did this work.
Phil. 2:12-13 "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, FOR it is GOD who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
One last one to consider: Acts 17:25 "nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything."
Passages like these make it difficult for me to see God trusting us in the same way as we trust each other since he himself is doing the work in us and not actually forfeiting any power himself as he works in us. Every time we trust someone we put our confidence in them to complete something, and we relinquish some influence of our own with the uncertainty of future outcomes. But it seems like God never does this. Any time God might put his confidence in another, it seems like it's backed by a statement like "I will be with you" or "I will go before you" or "I will do this through you". Also, he never has uncertainty as he always knows what will happen. So this makes it difficult for me to imitate him because I have to do two things he seemingly never has to do.
Are there any Bible verses that come to mind that suggest the contrary?
In response to your statement of "God trusts us...but we don't trust Him," my thinking would inevitably lead to something like "God trusts himself...yet, we don't trust Him."
I would love to hear any more thoughts or Bible verses to address some of these things. I'm grateful for the dialogue!
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