TRUST IN GOD—
"I love you, Mommy; but I love God better. He's the greatest!" my eight-year-old daughter Lori told me. Even though I had tenderly cared for her all her life, she had also come to have such great faith in the Lord that she loved Him better than anyone on earth. She had just received Him as her Savior.
She also said, "I wish I could go to heaven now while I'm little so I could sit on Jesus' lap!"
No wonder the Lord Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3-4).
LET GO—LET GOD
Shortly before Jesus was crucified, He fortified His disciples with many teachings and assurances. His discourse gave us one of the greatest passages in the Bible: John chapters 14-17. And it began with one of the greatest exhortations, found in John 14:1, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me"—Jesus (John 14:1).
Oh, so the hearts of so many people in this world, even Christians, are troubled! They are full of anxiety, oppressed by depression and worry. But Jesus said, "Now stop it! Let go of all that anxiety! Trust in God! Trust also in me!"
LETTING GO OF THE PAST
Unfortunately, many can’t seem to trust in God because of past experiences they have had with human beings. It’s a good thing the Lord didn’t judge things on that basis! The crowds followed Him, listened to Him speak, saw Him heal people and do miracles. Later many people picked up rocks to stone Him, cried for his blood before Pilate, jeered at Him as He hung on the cross in order to wash their sins away.
Sometime after Jesus Christ returned to Heaven, the religious leader Saul led a crowd to stone to death Stephen, one of Christ’s courageous followers. Saul started a crusade to jail and kill Christians. And on the road to Damascus Jesus reached down, lifted him up, opened his spiritual eyes—and called him to become one of His greatest missionaries of all time--and gave him a new name: Paul.
Many backslidden Christians think that God won’t help them because of the kind of lives they have led. Not so! The Bible says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
And while we’re at it, in order to have Christ’s perfect peace, we need to obey the Lord and forgive all those who hurt us. He can help us do that too.
If we take our eyes off of human beings, and look up trustingly to the Lord, He will forgive, help, and heal us—and use us for His glory.
As the grand old hymn says,
Trust and obey—For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.
Copyright Muriel Lawson
