KUOMagazine.com
Faith Session –
Can I Trust You?
Written by Dr. Phillip A. Lee Fatt, KUOM contributing writer,
Article published May/June 2015 of KUOMagazine.com
The
bedrock of any kind of interpersonal relationship is trust. If you don’t trust
the sanitation of a restaurant, you won’t eat there. If you don’t trust the
authenticity of the goods at your local store, you won’t buy from that store.
If you don’t trust the honesty of an individual, you are not likely to have any
kind of meaningful relationship with him or her. We
all want to deal with people whom we can trust, but before you remove the speck
from someone else’s eye, do you have a plank in your eye (Matt. 7:5). Are you a
trustworthy individual? Can I trust you?
That’s
not an easy question to answer is it? That’s because trust does not come easily,
nor is it given in the same measure to everyone. Even when you are born into a
family, you get to discover over time that some family members are not worthy
of your deepest trust. That’s why the level of trust that you place into a
person, should be proportional to the depth of the relationship you seek with him
or her. Indeed you may want to pursue a relationship - be it business,
recreational, friendship or romantic - but the critical question to answer is –
“How well can I trust that person with my money, possessions, secrets or
emotions?”
Guard
your heart! The trouble with some people who constantly get hurt and scammed is
that they unwittingly invest deep trust in new untested relationships, or
continue to wound themselves by reinvesting in proven disastrous relationships
(from such turn aside). Calm your
emotions, and allow yourself time to develop relationships. The deeper the
relationship, the more time it takes to establish. That’s because a person’s true
self is mostly revealed through the footprints of his past, and the footsteps of
his present. This revelation necessitates investigation and observation, both
of which require time. You
need to know for example, what does that person do when faced with a choice in
which dishonest appears to lead to some temporary gain? Remember honesty in
small things generally leads to honesty in bigger things. Guard your heart.
Finally in the matter of trust, internalize this
divine truth – “You can trust God”. If there is any being in the universe that
you can trust it is the Lord, because it is He who has made you and His power
sustains you. Some people think that God is the author of evil, but such a
being would be consumed by his own selfishness. Rather, the Lord our God is
good and His mercies endure forever; our very existence is proof of God’s
goodness. Learn to trust the Lord; then He will empower you with the spiritual wisdom
and discernment to know when and how to trust man. “Trust in the Lord with all
of your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways
acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths” (Pr.3:5-6).
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