Child-like Faith: Trust Others Unless...

Finding a child-like faith: Trust others unless....

This hint for having a child-like faith is fourth on the list. It surprises me, because it sounds cynical. Trust others unless -- is there a presupposition there that there will be an "unless?" Let's trust others until the inevitable happens, and our expectation of disappointment is met?

Or maybe that's my own cynical nature coming out.

Perhaps loving our neighbors includes trusting them - includes starting with the idea that they are trustworthy rather than approaching a relationship with the idea that someone needs to earn our trust.

The other day, a person called me at work. He was looking for funds for a project he was associated with in town. He was a friendly person, but he wouldn't tell our administrative assistant what he was calling about - he said it was a "personal matter" and he needed to talk to the Director. Our Executive Director was on the road, so she transferred the call to me. My suspicions were high when I started the conversation, and when he asked somewhat personal questions (such as: where do you live, and when did you graduate from college), I didn't want to answer. He was trying have a conversation, and I, who am in the relationship business, was wary. It felt very awkward.

I hadn't started with the "trust others unless..." place, whether right or wrong.

We are suspicious by nature, and perhaps a child-like faith calls us to be trusting by nature.

Child-Like Faith: Believe without seeing

Believe without seeing.

How easy it is to see this in a child. A child believes in God, with an enviable certainty. As we grow, we become jaded and cynical. Our trust is betrayed by those we believe, we are taught to believe what we have the evidence to prove. We have to live like that in order to survive; we can't believe without seeing, or we'll be falling for every scam that presents itself. We would be hurt countless times as we believe those we cannot and should not trust.

But in all of that, do we forget to trust God? Do we get so jaded, that we lose the certainty of our faith?

I'm not talking about turning off our brains and believing without critical study. We are called to explore our faith, to reach our own conclusions about the scriptures and those who preach about it. We are called to give all we have, including our questions and our doubts, to God. I'm talking about the child-like trust in God that we seem to lose.

When we say, "thy will be done," do we mean it? Do we believe that God has the best in mind for us? Can we trust God to do his will, and that we will not be a sacrifice in the process? Do we trust that we are loved by our creator? Do we have the faith to believe that? Without seeing it?

Believe without seeing.

Falling

The devotional I read this morning, written by Elise Erikson Barrett, and published in Disciplines 2015, is based on Genesis 17.  In this chapter, God calls Abram to change his name, to give up his expectations of what life will be like, to move to another place, and to trust God.

It was not a small call on Abram's life.

Have you ever been in a situation that required you to trust someone? To depend on another person's character and place your faith in that person?  The author of the devotional recalls those trust games where you fall back and are hopefully caught by someone else.  It's a good analogy, I think - to fall, trusting that you will be caught.

What makes you do it?  Why would you fall, out of your own control, trusting that someone else will catch you?  It's not a wise thing to do, and could result in banging into the ground. You do it, I think, because you trust the person who has promised to catch you.

Why would Abram follow God - give up his home, his life, his name - and follow?  I think it must have had someone to do with his trust of God.  Do we find God to be trustworthy?  Will we fall and let God catch us?  Isn't is a question of faith? Is that all it is?

I think it might be more than that.  How do we develop that kind of trust in God?  Maybe it's through remembering how many times God has caught us?  Maybe it's through developing a close relationship with God and allowing God's grace to strengthen our faith?  Maybe it's through stepping out, getting out of the boat, and walking?

Manna

Yesterday I was reading Exodus 16.  In this passage, the Israelites, traveling through the wilderness, are fed by God by collecting manna.  They were told to only collect what they could eat in that one day.  When they collected too much, the leftovers, on the next day, would be spoiled by worms.  On the day before the Sabbath, they were told to collect enough for two days so that they could rest on the seventh day.

My study Bible says that manna is a pun.  When the Israelites say it, they said, "What is it?" -- Man (What) hu (is it)?  Man hu  This can also be translated as It is manna -- and thus it became the name of the food.

How often do we look at God's providence - God's manna -- and say, "What is it?"  I think there are times we don't even recognize it.  I would propose another level to the pun -- Man says huh?

Manna was to teach the Israelites to rely on God -- God was providing what they needed.  God would provide manna -- everything they needed -- every day.  They didn't have to worry about tomorrow.  God would provide for today and for tomorrow.  Don't collect extra.  Don't worry about tomorrow.

And when God says, "rest" on the Sabbath, he provides to them on that day as well.  To rest on the Sabbath is another way to trust God.  It is a way to give up control for a day and do nothing. 

God will provide.  Manna will come.  Let us not say "Huh?" but instead, trust and obey.

(The image is of a bluebird in our backyard sitting next to our backyard bluebird.  The real bird sat there for a very long time.  I think they became friends.)

A Shrewd Investor

Ephesians 1:15-19: I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.

One of the blessings of my life is that I am part of the ministry of a Foundation. Part of what we do is to serve as the Trustee for endowment funds and custodian for churchs' reserve funds. We often explain to people that we have a conservative investment policy with a goal of achieving a reasonable return while following socially responsible principles.


I was privileged to attend the funeral this week for Gordon Scott, a member of the Ashland Area Emmaus Community. His son said of him, "He was a shrewd investor who invested his life in the things that mattered."

What does it mean to be a shrewd investor in life? As I think about it, perhaps the same three investment goals we have at the Foundation could be applied to this question.

A conservative investment policy for our lives means that we do not lose the gifts we have been given. God calls us to invest our time wisely so that it is not wasted, to use our talents for his glory rather than allowing them to wither away from disuse, and to share our spiritual gifts so that others see God through what we do. We are called to invest what we have been given in the things that matter. What matters in your life? Is that how you invest your gifts?

Do we expect and produce a reasonable return on what we invest? Do we see the fruit of our investments? Gordon was involved in Scouting, in his church, in the Emmaus Community. He had friends and family who gathered to mourn his death. He invested his time and gifts in all of these, and all present could see that his investments were bearing fruit. The lives of youth have been changed. Others have seen God through his efforts. The faith of Christian leaders in the church has been strengthened and developed through the Walk to Emmaus program. And his voice will continue to echo through all of these ministries long after he is gone. As the Ephesians passage says, can others hear of our faith and our love of Christ as it echoes through what we do?

Do we listen for the revelation of God's wisdom? Do we invest our lives following the guidance of God? Do God's principles and priorities guide what we do?

Am I a shrewd investor? Are you? We have a glorious inheritance from our Creator; we have access to immeasurable power and an incredible hope. Do we use what God has given use wisely so that it produces fruit, and do we trust and obey our Lord? Are we shrewd investors in the things that matter?

Elevator Theology

The elevators in this hotel are very strange. They look like normal elevators until you try to operate one. The first time I stepped toward the bank of elevators to go up to my room, and headed to an open car, an employee stopped me. She asked me what room I needed, and then she keyed it in on a panel on the wall -- where one would normally find the call buttons (up or down).

The panel repeats the floor you key in, and then tells you which elevator to ride -- Car B, for instance.

When Car B arrives, you step on. Inside the elevator there are no buttons at all. There is a strip of red, lit up numbers, on the "door frame." These numbers indicate where the elevator is going to stop.

No buttons. Step on the elevator and loose control. Change you mind and want to go to a different floor? Too bad. Your travel is out of your control.

Don't like the idea? Fine. Don't take the elevator, but if I made that choice, I would need to walk up more than 20 flights of stairs, and my room is only in the middle of the hotel. The only way to ride is to give up control.

Is life with God ever like that? Does life with God require that we give up control? If we want to travel where God takes us, isn't it necessary to release our control of the situation? Do we even have control in the first place? Could it be that all we need to give up is our illusion of control?

Image: Jackson Square

Trusting God

Why do I trust God?

We were talking about that question in Disciple class tonight. Several answers were listed:

• The more I experience the presence of God and his action in my life, the more I am convinced that he is present and active in my life. My faith in him increases through experience.
• The more I learn about God and his nature through Bible study, discussions with other Christians, prayer, meditation and life experiences, the more I am convinced that his nature is trustworthy. His character and nature invite trust; his actions confirm his trustworthiness.
• The more I experience the love of God in my life, the more I am convinced that I am loved by God. I can trust a God who loves me -- that his intentions for my life are good, and that his will for me is loving.

Trust More

It's late, and one of the consequences of an Emmaus walk is that you are TIRED when you are finished. I'll try to stay awake and write this post, but if there are misspellings or sentences (or entire thoughts) that just don't make sense, perhaps you'll understand why.

If you read Thursday's post, you'll see that I left to go on the walk feeling a sense of obligation, and not much joy. Wasn't it ironic that Jeff wrote about obligation for the post on Saturday? No, that was not planned.

I had a discussion with a few of the people on the walk about service and blessings. The pilgrims had a sense that they had come on the walk for themselves, but found that they were there for each other as well. I felt that I was going for the other people on the walk -- because I had said I would; because I had a responsibility to go. I found that I was blessed to be there. If I had thought about it, I would have known that, but sometimes I forget.

During a worship service this weekend, I was thinking about what might be an obstacle for me to getting closer to God. I have had for a couple of years an overwhelming sense of gratitude to God for the people in my life and the opportunites I have. Maybe that sense of gratitude came to a "head" during a worship service at our national conference. As I was praying about obstacles, it occured to me that when I remember to look, I do realize how gracious and wonderful God has been to me. Why is it that I don't always trust him? How much does he need to prove his trustworthyness to me?

So I will try to love more, and trust more. God is trustworthy. Why do I forget that?