Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
In Christian circles, we have a tendency to develop “jargon,” a technical short-hand way of speaking. We use words, and we just assume everybody knows what we mean.
They don’t, however, and the irony is that we ourselves forget.
The jargon substitutes for actually thinking about what we’re saying. We do this with words like “faith,” “saved,” “born again” and “holiness.”
A friend suggested that we’ve done this with the word, “trust.” What’s the word actually mean? We throw it around a lot. Do you trust in God? Trust Jesus! Trust the promises, brother. Where is your trust?
What does it mean? Mere days ago, I’d have given you my standard answer, repeated many times in the past, that “trust” is a synonym for “belief” or “faith.” When you tell me something, I’m going to decide, usually without giving it much thought, whether to think you’ve told me the truth. I either trust your word or I don’t.
In terms of the Christian Gospel (or, “good news”-- see, another jargon word there) the issue is whether you think you’ve been told the truth when the Scripture says Christ died on your behalf and was raised on the third day. Do you trust you’ve not been lied to? Do you trust that what God has said and promised will in fact prove reliable over time?
I still like that answer. It’s fine as far as it goes.
My friend, however, really upset my apple cart by suggesting that the trusting spoken of in the Bible always implies submission. Submission is a cheerful willingness to lower oneself to the status of servant. Biblical trust basically throws up its hands and says, “OK, Lord, you know better than me. I’ll do it your way.”
Biblical trust is putting all your eggs in one basket and then handing the basket to God, submitting joyfully to the idea that he is so much better at keeping these things than I would be. Do you hear the idea of self-lowering in that? It’s there. By trusting God, I’m admitting that he is higher and I must go lower. I’m surrendering my dreams, desires, feelings, plans, and opinions to what he has said.
Why would a person submit to God like that? Out of trust.
The story is told of a tight-rope walker who amazed the crowd by crossing the rope while pushing a wheel-barrow in front of him. When he got back to their side of the chasm, he asked, “Now, how many of you think I could do this safely with a person in the wheel-barrow?”
The whole crowd clapped in excitement: Of course he could! Then he said, “Great! You all believe I could do it. So who will be the first volunteer?”
A great hush fell over the proceedings and no hands ever went up. They believed he could do it, as long as the whole exercise was hypothetical. When he asked them to put some skin in the game, it became apparent that none of these sincere believers really trusted him.
We are living in interesting and dangerous times. They will continue to show us who was willing to claim belief in God when there was prosperity, and who is really trusting.
Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at: