Trust Doesn’t Come Naturally… Trust Me!
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
Scripture says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; (Romans 10:9)
However… without TRUST there would be no fruit (active participation – OBEDIENCE) on our tree – no “food” to sustain us in the seasons of famine. The house may be built on our belief in Jesus Christ, but I’d venture to say there would be no insulation in our walls, no stability when the wolf comes (and he will come) to blow the house down, and definitely it will not be turn-key ready for abundant life!
Proverbs 24:3-4 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches…
Man says… “Fake it until you make it” (or something like that), but Scripture says… You will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16)
Fruit… the produce of the tree.
The fruit of the tree of faith is the active/ready-willing-and able participation to DO what the Word of God declares (not suggests) needs to be done. The ready – willing – and able comes from the fertilizer of trust.
Yes, for some, maybe even most “trees” it takes years to produce fruit, but anything less or none at all is… wait for it… hypocrisy!
A hypocrite, just a decorative tree, maybe pleasing to the eye but useless for sustenance. A bunch of logs! Matthew 7:3-5 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log (useless tree) that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log (useless tree) is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log (useless tree) out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
First just let me say that I don’t really consider it possible to separate FAITH from TRUST, however for the sake of discussion some would say that salvation only requires BELIEF and of course confession of said belief.
I agree (see Romans 10:9 above)! However…
Believe in your heart is NOT the same as telling someone what they want to hear.
And, what is it that you believe? That God raised Him from the dead? Really? Then “SHOW ME THE MONEY”!
Show me your fruit…
Romans 3:20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
But, what use is it , my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works (James 2:14) Faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. (James 2:17).
Before we get into a yelling match… Mary, YOU CAN’T have it both ways! Yes I can!
Works of the Law in Romans, are tasks done out of, and only for, a sense of obligation… not cheerfully given (2 Corinthians 9:7), because the HEART declares it a MUST, without grudge or under compulsion to do so.
Unlike works of the Law, done for meeting unspoken expectations (which are similar to meaningless repetition or the religiosity Jesus speaks against in Matthew 6:7), works of Faith are done because the heart of a born-again believer BURNS with passion TO LIVE what it KNOWS to be TRUE.
*** Works of the Law done by the heart possessed by God Himself, are equally works of Faith by the heart born-again as a Child of God and grafted in to the family (Israel)/possession of God***
That fire in our heart is fueled by… TRUST!
I can believe words. I can believe someone is who they say they are. I can believe a promise made… for a while. But when tested? Will I believe with all my heart?
Good question!
An even better question is, “Will you test (actively prove your own confession of belief) what you believe about God and His Word, knowing He will not fail?” Or are we so afraid of being embarrassed that we build a fake fire of “religion” fueled by the logs of fear? No wonder we are sometimes thought of as hypocrites, rather than putting the fire of embarrassment out, we build it bigger, and brighter, and hotter, with the logs of fakery, the “Do as I say, not as I do” logs.
The passionate fire of TRUST, built with the logs of wisdom and understanding or the passionate fire of FEAR built with the logs of our own understanding. What’s in your house of faith built with?
the room of our house are filled by knowledge or filled with pretentious idols?.
Knowledge comes by testing the truth to be true, not by putting a pretty but false face our own storybook.
Testing is accomplished by TRUST, the active proof of my own confession of belief. Not the smoke and mirrors of accusation and slight of hand of a wanna be magician.
John 8:31-32 … “If you continue in My word, then your are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” TRUTH, not an opinion – mine or your!
DO NOT lean on your own understanding… I think the greatest mistake made in our world today is the trust in “EL NATURAL” Plant the seed and whatever comes up is wonderful (organic and original) and meant to be. If any tweaking is needed we turn to the expert Google to give us the perfect fix, recipe or truth.
Even our churches are caving to the idea that we don’t have to do anything but say the word and God will (or at least He BETTER!) give us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37).
Without knowing Him or reading His Word for ourselves, we CLAIM our position as son/daughter WORTHY to inherit God’s Kingdom.
Childishly we believe we KNOW all we NEED TO know and therefore God is obligated (if He wants us to continue believing in Him)…
As I said in the title, trust does not come naturally! But childishness DOES! 1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child; immediate gratification of all that is, was, and will be! When I became (an adult) I did away with my childish things. Well, some of us haven’t.
Truth is not a child’s toy, it can not be molded into whatever hot mess the eye of the beholder imagines.
Belief without faith, is not a safe and secure environment for training up a child (or anyone else).
Faith without trust is an unknown stability of a foundation, ripe for the enemy’s weapons of mass destruction.
Trust without obedience (actively putting our WHOLE self, body, soul, and spirit on the high-wire of life), does not produce the passion fruit of faith.
I’m not trying to take a spec out of your eye, brother/sister, I’m simply identifying the fruit of a Jesus Freak tree…
Faith without trust (proof of our confession/word) and obedience (proof of our trust)… without demand for God’s obligation to our wishes and plans… does not yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness (the RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with God – Hebrews 12:7-11).
FAITH… Psalm 23:1-3 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
TRUST… Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me;
OBEDIENCE… Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Trust does not come naturally and it doesn’t always make me happy – healthy – wealthy – wise! But it will ALWAYS be… healing to our body And refreshment to our bones. (Proverbs 3:8)
“Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” (song by John H. Sammis 1846-1919)
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.