Trust

TRUST

The Holy Bible, King James Version                                                              

Ps 91:2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

When you place your trust in someone, you entrust your entire life, your hopes, and your beliefs to their care. You have unwavering faith that they will act in your best interests, valuing and respecting your life above all else. You recognize that those who are trusted will sacrifice everything for you, just as Jesus did for us.  

Trust, a quality of someone acting in a particular way, is a fundamental aspect of human relationships. We all desire to be trusted by our loved ones, including family, friends, and associates. Additionally, we place trust in God and his son, Jesus. 

I’ve already discussed two of the four essential components of faith: learning the word of God and believing in it. The third essential component is “trusting” the word of God.

Before Jesus can “save” a sinner from sin and death, that sinner must first learn about Jesus and believe in Him. No one can save themselves; it’s necessary to have a Christ-like mindset to overcome a sinful one. A forgetful person can’t remind themselves of forgotten things, and a sinful person can’t be saved from sin or find God’s son without a saved teacher to instill faith in Jesus. A sinner must learn and believe in the word of God to trust that Jesus can redeem them from sin.

Faith, defined as a conviction based on wisdom and knowledge, coupled with an awareness of the limits of knowledge and supported by experience, leads to the anticipation of new and unexpected revelations from God. Through our trials and tribulations, He reveals these surprises to us.

The religious world defines faith in this context as “the awareness of and trust in God’s saving grace.” However, their definition ends abruptly with “God’s saving grace,” leaving out the crucial aspect of faith: the awareness of one’s own salvation from Hell. The religious world holds onto the belief in God’s unconditional love and the redeeming qualities of God.

A Critical Review of Pop Religious Truism

The Conditions in “Unconditional Love”

Does God’s Love Have Conditions?

By: Timothy S. Morton

The phrase unconditional love entered mainstream, pop-culture English during the 1960s LSD drug culture. What the flower children originally meant by unconditional love had to do with "love the one you are with" in the sexual revolution sense. But the phrase did not last long even among the hippies because it is inherently contradictory: to love is to care deeply about the condition of the one loved. However, "under the influence" many things made sense that did not later. After the drugs wore off, psychology flirted with the pop-phrase in the 1970's in the "transactional analysis" fad, but this was ephemeral and quickly dropped from view. Just about then, a few susceptible Christian teachers stepped in and took the baton, and the rest is history.

The religious world then translates God’s “unconditional love” into God’s “unconditional forgiveness!” This is the old doctrine of “once saved, always saved.” This doctrine excuses individuals from accountability and blindly leads them to believe they won’t fall into the pit of sin. I would call this “blind faith.” Blind faith does not and cannot guide you in the right direction; it can only lead you in one direction—the ditch! 

There is no “unconditional love” from God. All of God’s testimony about his son, Jesus, the word of God, is based on conditions.

Matthew 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

You can’t “will” yourself to trust, and that’s precisely what blind faith demands. Blind faith or naive trust requires you to commit and invest yourself in someone or something without any prior knowledge or experience of that person or entity.

Trusting in God means you’re not afraid to acknowledge him and have faith that he’ll guide you towards righteousness, as Proverbs 3:6 says; he’ll direct your paths. 

To trust in the Lord, you must have a “concrete” belief system. This belief system must remain steadfast, and no matter what challenges arise to test it, you must be certain that it will not fail or lose its credibility. You must have a “concrete” faith in your concrete belief system. Once you have this faith, the next step is to apply your belief system. You must apply your beliefs to trust in them.

A stranger is neither inherently good nor bad. However, to trust someone, you must know them. We teach our children not to talk to strangers and never to leave with one. We don’t trust strangers because we fear the unknown. The unknown can be perilous. 

Our faith in the word of God fosters and maintains intimacy in our relationship with the Lord. Trust in the Lord creates the ideal environment that sustains and intensifies our connection with Him, dispelling any doubts about His “saving grace or plan.” God yearns for our trust as much as we desire His. 

Trust is the foundation of loyalty, and loyalty is rooted in faith. To be loyal, you must surrender complete control of your life to God. If we know God and His son Jesus, they are not strangers. We can only know them through the word of God. This gives us the tools to believe in God and Christ, enabling us to trust them. Once we learn about God and believe in Him, we must prove ourselves through obedience. 

Written By: Charles Cohenour Jr.