trust

           “Trust me!” When I hear those words, my mind conjures up a picture of a used car salesman, with a huge grin on his face, wearing a pair of those hideous, 1970’s-type plaid pants. Needless to say, I am immediately suspicious of his promise to give me an amazing deal on that used car sitting on his car lot.

           Trusting someone can be difficult, especially when we’ve put our trust in people in the past who have let us down. That makes life difficult. Maybe those trust issues also make it difficult for us to respond to our Creator. Jesus called us to trust Him when He said, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me

[i.e. “trusts me”] will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12).

           Those are nice sounding words (living in light instead of darkness), but can we really trust Jesus to change our lives for the better? Jesus showed us the key that opens the door so we can trust Him when He declared: “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all” (Mark 10:15).

           Let me illustrate. Imagine that you are six years old and that you live in a house with your parents. On one particular night you are fast asleep at 2 o’clock in the morning. Suddenly you are wakened by a loud clap of thunder. A storm is rolling through your neighborhood—not just any storm, a huge storm. I’m talking about thunder that rattles the windows and lightning that lights up the whole room. Well, since you are only six years old, you have never been through a storm like this.

           You’re thinking that you might die. You jump out of bed and run crying into your parent’s room. One of your parents picks you up and says something like, “Honey, I know that the thunder is loud and that the lightning is scary, but we have been through many storms like this before and nothing is going to hurt you. You are going to be fine.” 

           Immediately, your panic begins to melt away. Why? At age six you believe that mom and dad are bigger than life. They can do anything. Because THEY say that everything is going to be OK, you are willing to trust them. This idea is important because Jesus said that, “… unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). In other words, Jesus wants us to trust Him in much the way a small child knows how to trust good parents. Learning to trusting Christ is vital because it is required if we want to go to heaven.

           Oh, you might say, “I understand what you are saying, but a child can trust a parent because they know each other. I have never met God.” Good point, but here is good news: The God who created everything took on human form and made Himself known to us.

            I know what you are thinking. It’s been over 2,000 years since Jesus walked on this earth. That’s true, but we still have the written, eyewitness accounts of those who walked with Him and knew Him. They not only knew Jesus Christ, they saw Him die, and then they saw Him raised from the dead. That knowledge changed them completely. They spent the rest of their lives proclaiming Christ. When challenged and threatened, they were willing to die rather than deny that Christ was alive. They knew Him, and they shared that knowledge with us in God’s Word, the Bible.

           Actually, it makes a lot of sense to put your trust completely in Christ. Not only was He willing to suffer so that our sins could be forgiven, but then He proved His awesome power by raising Himself from the dead. “But as many as received [Christ], to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe [trust!] in His name” (John 1:12).