Trust

Can I be trusted?

"Trust" is defined as "reliance in the integrity, strength, ability, surety of a person or thing; confidence." It's also "a confident expectation of something; hope." Trust is something very intangible and yet, so often, everything depends on it.

We place our trust in a lot of things every day without even thinking about it. When we sit down in a chair, we trust that it will hold us. We have the expectation that it will not collapse. When we receive our meal at a restaurant, we trust that it will nourish us and not harm us. And when we hear a politician make a campaign vow, we trust that she or he will do what they say.

Okay, so maybe that's pushing it a bit far.

But when we make a promise, others should be able to trust us to keep it.

I think that's the essence of John Wesley's question here. Can I be trusted? When I say I'm going to do something, when I say I believe something, when I attempt to live out something, can others trust that I will do, say and live what I promised?

We have all sorts of legal instruments and mechanisms today to hold people to their word. But the Bible has a different idea. James says we ought to be able to be trusted, that what we say will be what we do. He writes, "Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple 'Yes' or 'No.' Otherwise you will be condemned" (James 5:12). Can we even imagine a world in which a person's word matters, in which we know without a doubt we can trust everything that is said? It's hard, isn't it? We've become accustomed to being suspicious, to not trusting, even to willingly believing gossip before the truth. And how sad it is that we have trouble imagining such a world!

The calling for us, though, as followers of Jesus, is to be people who can be trusted, to live our lives in such a way that we are trust-worthy. It's an excellent question for self-examination and prayer: in a trust-less world, can I be trusted?