The Trust Scale

UV 1784/10000 The Trust Scale
And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
2 Corinthians 3 v 4

In the parable of talents, the servants who trusted the master more were more willing to take greater efforts and risks to invest the talent of gold given to them. Trust enables people to take great risks. It greatly multiplies our risk taking capacity. This is from a human perspective. But from God’s perspective, trust pleases Him while distrust displeases Him. Extreme trust pleases Him extremely and extreme distrust displeases Him extremely. Jesus manifested extreme trust while Lucifer manifested extreme distrust. The former’s mission is to spread and increase trust in God among men while the latter’s is to spread and increase distrust of God among men. Most of us are located somewhere in between extreme trust and extreme distrust. Some of our thoughts, words and actions veer towards either end of this scale. Trust made Abraham’s, Jacob’s and Moses’ tryst with God meaningful. They trusted in the character of God. They trusted in His words. We trust God in and through Christ. We believe that He has the words of eternal life. We believe He holds the key to heaven. We believe He will redeem us in every conceivable situation. We believe He is our advocate. He is our only mediator with the Father. We trust God to meet our needs. We trust God for our future. We trust His promises. We believe every word is true. Trust is the basis of our covenant and personal relationship with God through Christ.

We trust God that He has the best in mind for us. He wants to give us hope and a future. He wants to bless us and prosper us in spirit, mind and body. We trust Him in good times and bad times. We trust God for forgiveness and mercy. The words “such trust” implies that our faith should be of a certain quality- it should be proven, tested, approved, genuine, purified, freed from doubts and fears. Our trust is put to the test of time. Our trust in God through Christ is put to the test of trials and troubles. We need to show the patience of Jesus such that our faith will outlast our trials and tests.

Christ is the best example of trust. He trusted the Father even when He was subjected to the extreme test of the cross. He committed His soul into the hands of the Father. He trusted God that He would be resurrected. Even when He sweated drops of blood on the Rock of Agony in the garden of Gethsemane, He trusted that the will of the Father is the best for Him to obey. Jesus trusted His disciples to carry out His mandate to make known His plan of salvation to all mankind. This actually was more challenging for He knew that they were weak and ordinary men who could wilt under such extreme pressure as they would face from established religion. Peter trusted Jesus to attempt to step on the water to walk as He did on the Sea of Galilee. We need to trust the Father and Jesus completely and depend on His guidance for every step we take every single moment. Unless our trust is whole-hearted and not partial, it is not faith. When we trust God through Christ, we receive the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit. Trust in the Trinity produces peace in our lives- peace of spirit, mind and body: a wholesome peace, a holistic one that nothing can detract or subtract or distract. It is the peace that Jesus gives that no man or the world cannot take away.
Prateep V Philip