Trustworthy
January 11th, 2008 by Thom Riley
We all have various responsibilities in life. Some of us as: a husband, parent, fellowship coordinator, minister, etc I’ve been asked, questioned, and sometimes even challenged regarding my trustworthiness. I’ve recently begun to contemplate this idea of trustworthiness (in myself and my expectations of it from others) and to that end I have more questions than answers!
For example, in Micah 7.5 I’m instructed “Do not trust in a neighbor; Do not have confidence in a friend. From her who lies in your bosom guard your lips”. And Psalm 146.3 “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.”. Thankfully I know from Proverbs 3.5,6 that I can “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”.
- So some question I have regarding this subject are:
- “Can your spouse, your children, your minister, your friends, your whatever be trusted?”
- “If we are not to trust in man, how can we have confidence in our relationships with each other?”
I’d very much appreciate your biblical thoughts and comments regarding what trustworthy means to you.
I think we can trust people. Though as Christians we can’t be surprised if they let us down. I mean, one of the fundamental rules about the world, as Christians, is that we believe the world and the people in it are largely broken. They aren’t as they were originally made - they aren’t (in God’s eyes) truly human.
But if we couldn’t trust anyone, that’d be a lonely place.
I think I know what you’re getting at. I’ve been in a time of God’s showing me how little I actually do TRUST Him, and in his constant stream of reminders that he takes care of me, I have begun to understand trust in light of depending on him. In reference to trusting MAN, (or depending) I must confess, I don’t expect people to come through, that’s why i don’t usually ask for help.. but like john said, it’s a lonely way to live..It’s also a selfish way of protecting yourself, (isolation) and in another sense, hinders the edification available to a brother or sister when asked for help, which they hopefully deliver). Love would be easy if everyone were NATURALLY faithful. I’d say -crudely-that someone’s trustworthiness is probably in direct proportion to how much they are willing to sacrifice for God.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a brother who, when I told him a mutual acquaintance said he “loved” him, shrewdly locked eyes with me and replied, “tell him I return the SENTIMENT”. The look said it all. The “love” of our mutual acquaintance was measured out in a moment, and determined to be sentimentality, not love in the definition that God uses..that little conversation changed the way i saw relationships. My own especially.
Although I agree whole heartedly with both comments, and believe in the depths of my heart that this has got to be here in the Scriptures I’m having a hard time putting my finger on verses that support my belief.
I know from the Scriptures I am to love; Luke 10.27
I know from the Scriptures I am to have compassion; Colossians 3.12
I know from the Scriptures I am to be kind; II Timothy 2.24
But what do the Scriptures say about having trust and / or being trust worthy to each other?
Well, I don’t know that the Scriptures are supposed to be used in a “verse war” type of fashion, or that they encompass every bit of truth they could. Overall, we have to realize the Scriptures are a story, told to us equally by God, and by the characters in that story.
It seems to me that there are two kinds of people: (1) those who trust everyone until that person gives them good reason to doubt them and (2) those who doubt everyone until they are given good reason to trust them. Since I am of the former species, this whole conversation is a bit awkward. My response is…of course, trust everyone, why not? But of course, this is too simplistic. Either way, I would say that we should certainly trust fellow followers of Jesus. I say “follower of Jesus” because one can be a Christian these days without actually following Jesus and obeying him as Lord. So, like I say, why not trust followers of Jesus? A follower of Jesus is not going to lie, steal, backbite, etc. And if they did, a follower of Jesus is willing to be corrected because she or he really does want to do what’s right.
besides…doesn’t love presuppose trust?
Good question, I don’t think love presupposes trust. Maybe you can answer that way in a few years with Noah
I don’t normally blog but since I know the other bloggers, I thought I might just try. I think the key to understanding the “can we, should we” in question, lies in the understanding of the word ‘trust’ - from Websters = ‘a confident expectation of something’. ‘Trustworthy’ = ‘deserving of trust or confidence’ (from the same source.) I ask you. Can you trust the pig not to wallow in the mud or can you trust the bird not to sing? The answer, of course, is, “No.” But are they trustworthy? “Yes, absolutely.” Imagine a just cleaned cute little squealy pig running into the barnyard. We can trust that he will make a beeline for the first mud puddle to wallow in because that’s what pigs do. Imagine the time of day when the first light of morning touches the horizon. We can trust the bird to sing because that’s what birds do. To expect the bird to wallow and the pig to sing would be ludicrous, right? My point is, because we know the nature of a particular animal, they can be considered trusted, or trustworthy concerning a particular action. I believe that people can be trusted to act in a particular manner which is in accordance to what is hidden in their hearts. Either they have a lot of ways of the world in their hearts, or they have a lot of the ways of our Lord in their hearts, or somewhere in between. And since I believe that God continually draws all men, those who choose to be drawn closer to Him through His Son, will be consistently replacing the ways of the world with the ways of our Lord. Then the expected actions for which others place their trust in us has integrity. As we get to know people, we discover what that trust entails - wary watchfullness or the peaceful harmony as of two companions traveling the road toward the same destination, and helping one another arrive safely. Even though one may stumble from time to time, causing the other to change his pace, it makes for a journey without the lonliness that sometimes encurs when we travel alone. I believe it’s the love of God working in our hearts that makes it possible to sustain the journey, even when traveling with the crippled or lame. Trust? Well, I trust that my Lord and my God has a plan for not only my life but for that of my traveling companions. I trust that salvation is available because of my Lord, and that I’m only on this road because of mercy and grace. And I enjoy traveling with you. Oh, and let me testify to the fact that pigs can be taught to sing