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"It's better to trust in the Lord than to put
confidence in man." Psalm 118:8.
"Be thou true to thyself, as thou be not false to others."
Francis Bacon.
"Don't do as I do but do as I tell you" is the
unuttered advice of a pleader for a cause whose attitudes
and actions contradict him, and convict him for dishonesty,
disloyalty and hypocrisy.
We know, or know of, men and women who are practitioners
in the art of deceit. Sometimes they are people we trusted
when they had given us no reason to trust them. They capture
us with their sales patter, impress us with their superior
knowledge and claimed experiences, described at length with
a blend of name dropping of well known persons who would vouch
for them. Too often such pleaders are taken on their own representation
of themselves, and many are the losers from placing trust
in the untrustworthy.
The negative reaction to this recognisable situation, involving
trust and the lack of it could be to determine to trust no
one. But life would be restricted and retarded if we lacked
confidence in people to whom we may be indebted in the pursuit
of knowledge, the maintenance of life's strengths; the value
of friendships and familial relationships; the sharing in
community to mutual advantage.
The realistic attitude is to be careful in our dealing with
people, perceptive in our responses to them and to be as fair
and honest with them as we want them to be with us. The Golden
Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you," is the one honourable stance in human relationships.
The primary plea to humanity is to trust in God.
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and
lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs
3:5.
The single and most emphatic pressure of Christianity on
people is to have faith, trust, in God. The response we make
to that appeal is the regulatory factor in how we live, what
we think and the way we act not religiously only but in the
everyway and everything of life.
The deliberate decision to trust in God is a response to
what we have been taught about Him by others who have shown
us in their character and conduct the effects of that faith
on them.
We strengthen that trust as we find strength for our living
from the Scriptures, experiential knowledge of God, the worship
of the church, the sense of His presence with us always. There
is the pattern for living that we have in Jesus, His person
and work. Our dependence on Him is pivotal in our thinking
about life and death. The hymnist has it
"Living He loved me. Dying He saved me. Buried
He carried my sins far away. Rising He justifies freely
forever. On day He's coming, O glorious day."
Living as we do in a secular society, and in an environment
often antagonistic to religion, we are pressed to think on
other things. Because the Christian knows the benefits of
his faith in Christ, he has the responsibility to so live
out that faith that others will be persuaded to think on Him,
respond to Him as the answer to all their needs.
We are required to speak of the faith in order to persuade
others to have faith in Him. We speak in words and we illustrate
in actions the realities of faith for there can be times when
we might say: "I must teach but I must be silent."
We recognise that by word and deed the Christian witnesses
to the faith that is in Him. Our words are heard, our character
and conduct give credence to the words. These are the inseparables
in the Christian life. Listen to St. Paul
"Don't worry about anything, instead pray about
everything, tell God your needs and don't forget to thank
Him for His answers." Philippians 4:6.
Rev. Canon Dr. S.E. Long
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