The Proof of Trust

You may remember the song that most of us have sung many times... "Trust and Obey". It is such a simple song and yet the truths of it and really quite profound. Obedience is a result of trust. When we were little and mom said, "Don't go in the street", we obeyed out of trust... at least those of us that lived. :) She told us this because she had good intentions for us. She wanted us to be safe. In the same way, the commands of God are not a limiting thing. In the words of John, "His commandments are not burdensome". Yes, His commandments are limiting... and yes, that is a good thing! I have just been pondering these things much over the last few days because I so much want to trust Him with all of my heart. I wish I could say that I trust Him with all of my heart, but my lack of full unselfish obedience leads me to the conclusion that I must come to--I really don't trust Him! I have taken the lies of Satan as the thing to depend on. I say it that way because I need to hear it... and it is absolutely true. Disobedience is simply trusting Satan more than God. We love how lenient Satan is... don't we? We love that added freedom... to do what we please... don't we?

You may have not even noticed that I used very Biblical terms to describe the center of our sinfulness... "love"... "freedom". We were once slaves to sin, but now we are free in Christ. Satan takes these very important parts of our life in Christ and turns it around making us feel like His commandments are burdensome... that we are "in bondage"... etc. We are not.

I am thinking of 1 John 2:15-17.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Elsewhere it states that God has come to destroy the works of the devil... and He says that he who sins is of the devil. Do we really want to work in such a way that God will come and destroy us? Do we not realize that God is no respecter of persons? Yes, He loves us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place, but let us not lose sight of the fact that He has come to destroy some of the things that we have a "love" for. Let us lay aside the sin that so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us! He is the author and finisher of our faith. We will reap if we do not grow weary in doing good.

God, you know of my lack of trust in You ever more than I do. You know all the ways in which I have loved the things of this world. You know the lies that I have believed. I am not telling You something new. You did not make sin desirable. Your Word is so full of reasons to not sin... and yet, I do. I can't even "surrender all" to You if I want to. It is Your Spirit that enables any kind of good thing to come out of this heart. I do surrender all, not with my own strength, but through Christ who gives me strength. I ask that You would strip from my heart any love for the things that You have come to destroy. Give me Your heart about the things of this world... give me Your heart about eternally significant things. Tear down any walls that keep me from trusting You fully. Cause me to bear the fruit of obedience. Make Your will my most passionate desire, my deepest love and my strongest foothold.