I started this post a week ago, but couldn't seem to get it finished. For some reason, my thoughts wouldn't quite come together, so this is what I want to say as "to the point" as I can make it...
I have decided that my definition of trust has been incomplete. Without consulting a dictionary, I would say an accurate definition of trusting someone is believing that person will do right toward you in spite of your downfalls and sins against him or her. In other words, there is an element to trust that we often overlook - the element of vulnerability.
When we speak of trust, we usually refer to trusting someone with a responsibility, such as making good on a promise, telling the truth, getting a job done, or remaining faithful to a relationship. This last one, though, also carries a parallel responsibility on the part of the one who is trusting. For trust to be authentic, the one trusting has to be authentic, which means he must extend the courtesy of honesty about himself to the one he trusts.
Trust is about relying on another person. Complications come, however, when the one trusting is not honest about himself, including his failures. This is what makes real trust so difficult. In our society, we are taught (quite easily, I might add) that acceptance must be earned. Trying to earn acceptance leads to striving to be acceptable, which means we have to have some reason to prove we should be accepted. Unfortunate to this strife, though, is the fact that we are human, meaning we carry histories of bad choices, sins, and regrets, which make us unacceptable on basis of merit. The complications grow when we try to fix our unacceptability. In order to make ourselves more acceptable, we hide the truth about who we are until we believe we have built a good enough track record of behavior to make us acceptable. Hiding who we are makes authentic trust impossible, because the one we are trusting doesn't know the one he is being trusted by.
Sadly, this desire to be acceptable has kept friends of mine from trusting in Christ. From more than one person, I have heard something like, "I want to be a real Christian when I become one," or, "When I know I can get it right, I'll start being a Christian. I don't want to be fake." The problem is, none of us will ever build up enough good to undo our bad. In fact, our problem isn't the number of sins we commit in the first place. Our problem is our sinful nature. This is why we are all basically the same. whether the Apostle Paul, Saddam Hussein, Martin Luther King, the terrorists of 9-11, Mother Teresa, or you and me, we all have a natural inclination to do things our own way instead of God's way, and we all are deserving of the death that sinfulness cost. The only way out is for someone who is worthy of being acceptable to take away our unacceptableness. That is exactly what Jesus did, and He only ask that we trust Him. We cannot trust Him, though, if we are hiding who we are, hoping to make ourselves worthy of His acceptance of us.
This also parallels our relation to one another. While my failures don't need to be reported in the daily news, if I put on a false front to hold me over while I become acceptable, authentic trust cannot exist. Why can't people trust the church? Why can't Christians trust each other? Why can't a husband trust a wife or a wife a husband? Why can't we really trust God? Maybe it isn't a matter of "can't" but a matter of "won't." Or, more accurately, instead of "won't" it is a matter of "want." We want to be the hero. We want to be good enough. While for the want of being good enough, we miss out on the greatest gift - the gift of fellowship with God and with others.
I have decided that my definition of trust has been incomplete. Without consulting a dictionary, I would say an accurate definition of trusting someone is believing that person will do right toward you in spite of your downfalls and sins against him or her. In other words, there is an element to trust that we often overlook - the element of vulnerability.
When we speak of trust, we usually refer to trusting someone with a responsibility, such as making good on a promise, telling the truth, getting a job done, or remaining faithful to a relationship. This last one, though, also carries a parallel responsibility on the part of the one who is trusting. For trust to be authentic, the one trusting has to be authentic, which means he must extend the courtesy of honesty about himself to the one he trusts.
Trust is about relying on another person. Complications come, however, when the one trusting is not honest about himself, including his failures. This is what makes real trust so difficult. In our society, we are taught (quite easily, I might add) that acceptance must be earned. Trying to earn acceptance leads to striving to be acceptable, which means we have to have some reason to prove we should be accepted. Unfortunate to this strife, though, is the fact that we are human, meaning we carry histories of bad choices, sins, and regrets, which make us unacceptable on basis of merit. The complications grow when we try to fix our unacceptability. In order to make ourselves more acceptable, we hide the truth about who we are until we believe we have built a good enough track record of behavior to make us acceptable. Hiding who we are makes authentic trust impossible, because the one we are trusting doesn't know the one he is being trusted by.
Sadly, this desire to be acceptable has kept friends of mine from trusting in Christ. From more than one person, I have heard something like, "I want to be a real Christian when I become one," or, "When I know I can get it right, I'll start being a Christian. I don't want to be fake." The problem is, none of us will ever build up enough good to undo our bad. In fact, our problem isn't the number of sins we commit in the first place. Our problem is our sinful nature. This is why we are all basically the same. whether the Apostle Paul, Saddam Hussein, Martin Luther King, the terrorists of 9-11, Mother Teresa, or you and me, we all have a natural inclination to do things our own way instead of God's way, and we all are deserving of the death that sinfulness cost. The only way out is for someone who is worthy of being acceptable to take away our unacceptableness. That is exactly what Jesus did, and He only ask that we trust Him. We cannot trust Him, though, if we are hiding who we are, hoping to make ourselves worthy of His acceptance of us.
This also parallels our relation to one another. While my failures don't need to be reported in the daily news, if I put on a false front to hold me over while I become acceptable, authentic trust cannot exist. Why can't people trust the church? Why can't Christians trust each other? Why can't a husband trust a wife or a wife a husband? Why can't we really trust God? Maybe it isn't a matter of "can't" but a matter of "won't." Or, more accurately, instead of "won't" it is a matter of "want." We want to be the hero. We want to be good enough. While for the want of being good enough, we miss out on the greatest gift - the gift of fellowship with God and with others.
posted by Jonathan Branch at 3:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home