1 Corinthians 13:13 "So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love."
My hubby and I like to be that couple that says cheesy things to each other ever so often. One time we were in the car, and he looked at me and told me, I was his peanut butter to his jelly. I, of course, had to add that he was my sprinkles to my sundae. There are many things that just work better together than apart. Pancakes & Syrup, Chips & Dip, Cake & Ice Cream, and you cannot have the Mac without the cheese.
Anyway, it can be fun to find these little idioms to play around with, but it got me thinking about the Bible and Jesus. When others have talked about trust in Jesus or having faith it made sense that you cannot have trust unless you have faith, they go hand in hand.
Trust defined is the firm belief in the reliability or strength of someone or something.
We trust that our vehicles will start each morning and that they will get us to and from our destinations throughout the day. We trust the function of our homes, don’t we? We wake up and know there will be power and running water.
Faith defined is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Also it is a strong belief in God without proof. Not only does the dictionary state this but so does the Bible in Hebrews 11:1 “Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.”
There is something to be said about children and their pure innocence. As parents we shelter them from the hard realities of this world for as long as we can. In doing so they have such a simple, unyielding trust in us as their parents. They know we will be there through the night as they sleep, when they wake up, when they’re sick and so on. This trust is not easily broken.
As adults it’s easy to lose trust in this world and the people here because we’ve been let down so many times. So how is trust built? Remember, trust is belief in the reliability of someone or something. I remember when my kids first started to walk and I loved teaching them. Those first steps are scary as they let go of any object they had pulled themselves up to and you could see the uncertainty in their eyes. I was never far from them, sitting there with my arms open and speaking encouraging words. I would never let them fall to where they would get hurt. I needed them to trust me enough to let go. As they let go and walked toward me their excitement would grow, just as mine would. With their eyes on me they walked those few steps into my arms receiving a big hug. Soon their trust would grow more, and we began walking around the house as they held my hand. Hands that helped and guided them with each step.
On everyday things it is easy to trust because it’s just something that we have grown up learning. The basics of trust. From childhood on up we have seen things and learned to know people and how to trust, and over time we learn to trust in the things we can physically see, that’s our human nature. Simply trusting out of pure trust requires faith. A baby taking their first steps takes faith into the unknown. Trusting that there is a God out there taking care of us without seeing Him takes that kind of faith.
Growing up a Seventh Day Adventist, I was taught from the beginning that there is a God who created this world, watches over my daily needs, and protects me and I have taught my children the same things. Once I became a teenager and once, I got married, things weren’t as black and white as it was when I was a child and although my belief in God never changed or faltered I had to and still have to trust in my faith of the unseen; a God who is taking care of me and my family without seeing Him. This trust is built by my faith that when I pray to Jesus, He hears my prayers and I have seen my prayers answered in many ways. As an adult this trust, this faith is not easy to have especially when we don’t feel our prayers are being heard or things in our lives seem to be falling apart. This is when we have to have faith without proof that there is a God who is watching over things, taking care of us in both the good times and the bad and answering our prayers the way He knows is best for us.
Our faith in God, our trust in God, must be like that of a child in their loving parents. It’s as easy as simply trusting. Trusting He is with you in everything, trusting HE only has the best plans for you, trusting that He is with you when you go to bed at night and is there to greet you in the morning. Just like you trust in the things around you, your home, your car, the people you have built a trusting relationship with, you need to trust in God.
Satan will try to deter your trust. He will throw bad things in your direction that will make you doubt that God is real. He will try to put thoughts into your mind that following a God who doesn’t exist in this world is silly and you shouldn’t be doing it. This is when you need to cling to the faith and trust in what you believe. Push those wrong thoughts out of your mind and know they are not from God.
We have proof of our Savior right in the Bible and when we dive into the scriptures there should be no doubt, just simple pure trust. From creation to Revelation we can see all the proof we need as we look at the world around us. The trees, the birds, the nature that surrounds us from majestic waterfalls to animals in their natural habitats. There is no doubt that God’s hand is in creation. Now with all the bad that is surrounding us daily and where this world has degraded to, there is no doubt Revelation is being fulfilled and is revealing that we are in the end times. It comes down to simple trusting in what Jesus has said and promised.
Let’s look at a few people in the Bible who trusted God and Jesus. Abraham and Sarah trusted not only enough to pack up and leave all they knew to go to a foreign place, but they trusted God would make him the father of all nations in His time, Abraham trusted God enough to sacrifice his only son because God promised to make him father of all nations and God sent a ram in Isaac’s place. Look at Moses and the Israelites, Moses believed in God and trusted Him enough to face Egypt and free God’s people and even though the Israelites had some moments of lack of trust and faltered they still did as God asked. David fought a giant, the disciples left everything behind to follow Jesus. Peter even went as far as stepping off a boat into the hands of Jesus, trusting Him. Those who came to know Jesus sought Him for healing and teaching. Does that mean that they never were shaken in their trust, absolutely not! All the people mentioned in the Bible had moments of doubt and fear but they also all believed in their Savior. Some walked with Jesus and believed, others heard the voice of God and believed, yet others had to believe on pure faith, trust in something far greater than them. When you get a chance read on in Hebrews 11 of all those who had faith and trust in God. Learn their stories and see how they overcame their doubts and just simply trusted.
Today we will begin our new study through a new chapter in the Bible. I hope you have found time to join me as we have been walking through the New Testament and digging deeper into what God is showing us and learning new things. If not, I encourage you to take a few more minutes of your day and let the Holy Spirit lead you into new discoveries in God's Word. The older I get I have found many new things in the Bible I thought I had already learned and it's been a great encouragement and taught me new ways to look at Jesus and all He has done for me. So, let's begin with 1 Corinthians 1:1-17.
1 Corinthians 1:1-17- https://www.docdroid.net/FC2jw9v/1-corinthians-study-1-docx
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