Truth be told, I am not a very trusting
person because I’ve seen too many people reveal things that should never be
revealed. From experience, I see most
people maintain circles of trust around themselves. There are few we fully trust- that we allow
to be very close, others we can trust with some parts of ourselves, yet trust
different parts of us to different people- they are variable distances away in
the circles. Then there are many we keep
at acquaintance level due to substantial lack of trust. We usually judge these levels based on
experiences with the person over time.
A friend once told me she doesn’t know
how she will ever trust those who split from her church if they ever came back,
to work with them again. My thought is:
you can work with a person quite well without trusting them. Do we trust a person just because they are a
Christian? Quite frankly, I don’t see
anyplace in the Bible that it says to trust any man. (Also, it says not to
trust in: Egypt-
a type of the world- idols, lying words or riches.)
Do not put your
trust in princes, nor in the son of man
in whom there is no salvation. Ps. 146:3
Everyone beware of
his neighbor, and do not trust any brother!... Jr. 9:4
Put no trust in a
friend… Mc. 7:5
But we had the
sentence of death in ourselves, so that we should not trust in ourselves, but
in God who raises the dead; 2Cr. 1:9 (not even ourselves!)
It does say many times to trust God.
It is better to trust in Jehovah than to trust in
man. It is better to trust in Jehovah
than to trust in princes. Ps. 118:8,9
Jehovah is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and
He knows those who trust in Him. Nh. 1:7
The God who is my
Rock, in Him will I trust…. 2Sm. 22:3
The righteous shall
be glad in Jehovah, and shall trust in Him… Ps. 64:10
Who among you fears
Jehovah … Let him trust in the name of Jehovah and rest on his God. Is. 50:10
And many more times than these…
This does not mean we shouldn’t have any
trust at all, but we must be aware that man will fail us (yes we fail ourselves too) because we are all human
and therefore not perfect. Only God will
never fail us because He is perfect and His Word never fails (Is. 55:11). So, don’t completely trust man or even self,
but DO completely trust God.
My biggest point in this is that we are
not to completely trust that everything people- even our favorite authors,
bloggers, pastors- say is from the Scriptures or that is doctrine, or right or
wrong. I don’t care if they are biggest
name in evangelism, the greatest Christian author, or the pastor we’ve agreed
with for the past 50 years- we are to know the Word ourselves and study, check
up on what we hear to make sure it’s accurate to the Bible. Men can fail to remain in sound doctrine.
And the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away
by night to Berea . They, when they
arrived, went into the synagogue of the Jews. And these were more noble than
those of Thessalonica, in that they received
the Word with all readiness of mind and searched
the Scriptures daily to see if those
things were so. Ac. 17:10,11
These Bereans
were being praised for checking everything Paul and Silas said. They didn’t just believe it all, but they searched daily to see if it is true. So we can’t let any man say we should just
trust them or accept what they say the Scriptures mean. We must read them for ourselves. We must heed the Spirit who helps us
understand them. We must study and
meditate on the Word- for in these final days deception is increasing and many
are being caught up in false thinking and doctrines.
Christianity and Islam- Chrislam (not the same God!)
Christianity and occultism- esp and such are gifts from
God (No they are not!)
Christianity and new age- contemplative prayer, mysticism,
divine centers, etc
There are many more but some stats say about 68% of
Christians accept some of these and other false beliefs in within their own Christian
beliefs.
Let us all take care and search the Scriptures daily for the Truth, God's Truth!