Tag: Trusting Jesus

Learning to Trust

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This week we are wrapping up our short series, When I Am Afraid. For the last three weeks we have been talking about how to deal with times of fear and anxiety in our lives. Ultimately, the way we are going to get through that particular storm is through our willingness to trust in God. But what if we don’t trust in God? What if someone we know who is struggling under the weight of life doesn’t trust in God? What then? Well, we have to learn how and why trusting Him is the best decision we’ll ever make. In this last part of our journey, unpacking that truth is what we are talking about with the help of something Jesus said that reveals a great deal about His character. Let’s dive right in.

Learning to Trust

I want you to think for a second about someone you just don’t trust. My guess is that you have at least one person in your life who fits that particular bill. I’m not as concerned with the precise reason for the mistrust right now as I am with the presence of the mistrust itself. Do you have that person in mind? Now, imagine that you are struggling with something fairly significant and this person comes and offers you help. Are you going to accept it? Probably not, right? Maybe if you are sufficiently desperate you’ll give it some consideration, but absent that, you’ll keep on struggling on your own rather than take help from this person. Why? Because you don’t trust them. You don’t trust they are really going to be there when you need them. You don’t trust they aren’t offering with insincere or ulterior motives. You don’t trust they aren’t going to let you down in the end. You don’t trust them. And when you don’t trust someone, it’s hard to receive much of anything from them. 

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Morning Musing: Philippians 2:12-13

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“Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

How does salvation work? Who is responsible for it? Does God do all of it and we are just passive participants, or do we play some kind of a role? How much of a role? This is a question and debate that has challenged the church since its inception. Some theologians and interpreters have leaned hard into one side; others have landed squarely on the other. So, which is it? Paul doesn’t give us an answer here. Instead he ratchets up the tension on us. Let’s talk about what’s going here.

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But Is It Real?

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This week we are kicking off a brand-new teaching series that is going to take us through the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on Easter. For the next few weeks, we are going to be walking through Luke’s Passion Narrative beginning with Jesus’ triumphant ride into Jerusalem. These stories are perhaps families, but there is great worth in giving a fresh set of eyes to an old story. You just might be surprised what we’ll find along the way. Let’s get started with a look at Jesus’ message of judgment and how we need to adjust our lives in light of it.

But Is It Real?

Did your folks ever leave you home alone when you were a kid? Once I was old enough, mine did on occasion. And maybe your experience was like mine. Did they ever leave and by the absence of any departing instructions give you total free reign over the house and what you would do in it while they were gone? Yeah, mine didn’t do that very often either. There’s just too much trouble a kid can get into when left entirely to his own devices. What’s the solution to this problem? Why, it’s to keep them engaged with chores and projects, of course! As a result, when your parents left, you got a list. If you completed the list before they got home, that was good. If you didn’t…not so good. 

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Digging in Deeper: Habakkuk 3:17-18

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“Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the flocks disappear from the pen and there are no herds in the stalls, yet I will celebrate in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When you are the pastor of a church in a small town, you wind up getting to take part in a whole lot of the normal rhythms of the community. It’s really one of the things I enjoy most about serving in the kind of community where God has planted us. As an example of this delightful part of the job, this afternoon I get the privilege of giving a short devotion to a great group of students before they go to their activities for the evening. When doing this kind of thing, there are all kinds of approaches you can take. I decided on a little different approach than most guys will take. These kids live in a world that is beset by anxiety. Most of the fault of this lies at the feet of social media and a rapidly declining engagement with a genuine faith community. I’m not going to tell them to go to church. But I do aim to give them a little bit of hope in the midst of a world that is often dark and discouraging. As something a little different than our usual Friday fare, here’s what I’m going to say to them.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 8:26

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“He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Our weather yesterday was gross most of the day. Today’s not promising to be much better. It wasn’t particularly cold, which was nice, but it was rainy and windy and overcast all day. Then, yesterday afternoon it got foggy out of nowhere. It was the kind of thick pea soup fog you usually only see in the morning except it was at 3:00 in the afternoon. Driving toward on particular intersection, I couldn’t see the traffic signal until I was almost through the intersection itself. It reminded me of another thing in thankful for. Today I’m thankful for not being able to see tragic signals.

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