I went for a walk last night. It has been a busy season in my life and I haven’t had much time to ponder and reflect—and a walk gives me a great excuse to have movement in my life and time to think. I was walking around the same lake where I saw the snake (see my musing about snakes and slow computers here), when I pondered how to gain back your trust.
How Trust Works
I was once told that trust is built by consistency.
When you tell someone you’ll meet them at the coffeeshop at 7am and you arrived late the last three times, they won’t believe you when you say you’ll be on time tomorrow. But if you’ve never been late, they know they can trust you to be there when you say 7am.
Once you’ve lost trust its hard to gain it back by pleading and mere talk. Saying you’ll do better next time—that you will be on time for the next meeting or that you won’t break the rule again—is meaningless words unless it is followed through by action. The quickest way to gain trust is by consistently showing the action of the words.
You become trustworthy because you’ve proved you are worthy to be trusted. You’re consistent. You follow through. You do what you say you will do. You consistently do what is right. You never do that which is wrong.
Trust, like character, is built over time.
Why We Can Trust God
Proverbs 3:5 tells us to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart …” This isn’t a causal trust but an all-out kind of trust. We don’t partially trust God and partially assume doubt or skepticism. We always trust our God. But why?
The reason we can trust God is because He has consistently proved Himself trustworthy. He is faithful. He is unchanging. He always performs what He promises. He always comes through. He is constant. Trust is built by a consistency of behavior and Scripture goes overboard to declare that God is worthy to be trusted. He has proved Himself. Read Scripture and you discover God is constant in His nature, character, actions, and will—He does not falter, is not fickle, and is never unfaithful.
He has proved Himself and thus I am called, with my whole heart, to trust Him every moment of every day. I am called a believer because I know in whom I believe and place my trust.
Why I Must Apologize
Trust is built on consistency. And walking around the lake last night caused me to think about the deeperChristian community. I made a commitment to you to post 2-3 times a week, but over the last couple months it has been anything but consistent. So I need to apologize and ask your forgiveness. I have been the friend who tells you that I’ll meet you at the coffeeshop at 7am but routinely either shows up late or fails to arrive at all. As such I’ve likely lost your trust—and it’s consistent action not words that will rebuild trust.
In the past I’ve tried to write release a new post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but due to my current schedule, that has been near impossible to accomplish. So for now, I’m moving toward publishing each Tuesday and Thursday, eventually hoping to return to my 3-a-week schedule in the future. I’m more excited than ever about the future of deeperChristian and there are several plans in the works on how to create and provide better content and resources that will spur you onward and deeper in your walk with Christ.
Know I am standing alongside and cheering you on as we journey down this narrow way of the Cross.
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