Trust in What?

"Some trust in and boast of chariots and some of horses, but we will trust in and boast of the name of the Lord our God."

- Psalm 20:7 (Amplified)

Where do we place our trust?

This question has been coming to mind a lot lately as my husband and I have been discussing God's direction for our lives.

It is an important one to ask because, ultimately, the answer will reveal where our heart is.

Life presents us with many things that we can choose to place our trust in. Jobs, homes, property, money. While we often do not make a conscious decision to place trust in these things, in the back of our minds we hold onto them as if those things will carry us through.

In reality, however, nothing in this life is ever certain.

I could get a call this morning that my house has burned to the ground and that my job is in jeopardy. All the money stored in the bank could dissolve overnight.

On a moments notice, it could all disappear.

There is only one thing that remains through blessing and through catastrophe: God.

Regardless of what I say or do, He will never change, never leave, never give up on me. And regardless of what happens in my life, He will always be there.

So why place my trust in things that are passing? And why make these things the cornerstone of my life? Why allow my possessions and my finances to dictate to me what is important and what is worth pursuing (or not)?

In Matthew 6:19-20, Christ instructs us to store up our treasures in heaven, not here on earth where it can be destroyed.

This indicates that we should place more value in doing God's will than we do in our personal possessions (for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also). And we should trust God will take care of us in the process.

When Christ sent His disciples out in Matthew 10, He instructed them to not bring silver or gold and to not carry an extra cloak. When He stated that a worker is worthy of His wage, He was making a statement that, if we do His will, He'll provide.

In the sermon on the mount, He tells us to not worry about what tomorrow brings. Why concern ourselves over what we will eat or what we will wear? God is greater than these things and He will care for those needs.

Are these things important? By the world's standards, acquiring wealth and material worth is the goal. By God's standards, the ultimate goal is to be like Him and to do what He wills.

That means that, as Christians, our trust should be in God, not in what we see in the physical world.

That means that we should do what He has ordained us to do - go forth and bring the gospel to others - and not fear the sacrifice.

Is the world a scary place? Yes, it is. But God is bigger than the world, bigger than all the treasure that it contains, and all the "security" the world offers cannot match the security we have in Him.

If our heart if for Christ, we will place our faith in Christ. And we will press on toward the prize with out fear of the journey.

A Life Like Christ

My husband and I have spent a lot of time recently contemplating what it means to be "Christ like" and what that involves in terms of reaching others.


After several long drives discussing Christ and His Word, we realized that Christ really was all about other people.


If one views the life of Christ, he will find that Christ rarely isolated Himself from others. Where ever He went, He was touching someone - usually those considered to be unworthy or unclean. He could not help but attract others to Him and had no desire to stop them from coming.

Yes, He was God incarnate. Based on that alone, people could not resist running to Him.

Still, it went beyond Christ being divine and extended to the heart of His example: that God loves His creation and longs to reach everyone with that love.

He showed compassion for the unsavory because He cared for them. He reached out to the broken because they were the ones who needed healing. He loved the unlovely because He saw past the exterior, that which is easily judged by man, and saw a hurting, lost soul that needed life.

As Christians, one of our ultimate goals is to reflect Christ in everything we do. We are taught to be as Christ-like as is humanly possible, yet it is so difficult when we consider the fact that we are human and, being such, we have to deal with some very human tendencies (e.g. judging others, closing ourselves off from other, etc.).

Nonetheless, we cannot use our humanity as an excuse to act in a way that is out of accordance with Christ's nature.

This means making ourselves available to touch other people; it means getting uncomfortable and stepping out; it really means reaching out to those that may not rank at the top of our list.

One way to do this is to ask God for His eyes and ears. If we can see and hear like Christ, we will be amazed at how much easier it is to be like Him. And we will be amazed at how our perspective changes.

Suddenly, we will find that people are more than their facades. We will discover the beauty and complexity of those we come in contact with and have a greater sensitivity toward them.

Suddenly, the world will not seem such a dark, scary place. Instead, it will become a place where the possibilities are endless and where our God's power to affect our circumstances and to affect change in the earth is limitless.

With that change in perspective, nothing can stop us from doing God's will.

I pray that God can do a greater work in me so that I can be more like Him. It is a fearful thing to ask for, because, with it, comes the requirement to do what He commands: reach others with His life. It challenges me at my very core to not be person who complains and judges, but to be someone who really loves the way that Christ loves.

My hope is that I will be able to meet that challenge and align myself to Christ's example.

Lord, make me more like you!

Facing Down Fears

Often in life we find ourselves being held captive by fear. We think of all the "what-ifs" in life, look at the place we are most comfortable, and choose to stay there rather than press toward the destiny of God.

The Israelites did this very thing when approaching the promised land. Instead of seeing a land flowing with milk and honey, most only saw the giants standing in their way. Their fear of those giants kept them from stepping into the providence of God.

And yet they were only steps away.

Of the twelve spies that scoped out the land, only two saw the potential and were willing to fight for it. I know many probably believe that Caleb and Joshua were super human and did not feel any apprehension when looking upon Jericho and all that it contained, but I believe that they were human and, as humans, they had a pit in their stomach thinking about the odds and all that could go wrong.

Still, they had faith to believe that God would help them overcome the obstacles and achieve victory. After all, why would He have promised so much only to see them fail? Nothing was going to stop them from walking into that destiny and nothing was going cause them settle for the wilderness.

Judging by the vast majority of Israelites who chose the wilderness over the other, settling is a very easy thing to do.

In one sense, the wilderness is comforting. It represents a safety net that we construct around ourselves to ensure that nothing ever touches us. It is familiar and does not require much from those that live within its confines.

But if nothing touches us, what are we touching?

If one binds something up, trying their best to keep it contained, the thing that is bound will never experience growth. In the same way, fear binds us and keeps us from growing. If we choose the wilderness, we are destined to die there; a very scary thought when one thinks about it long enough.

Fear is a giant, but like the giants of Jericho, it can be defeated.

I want to be like Joshua and Caleb and approach God's promises with bravery. I pray that I will not settle for comfort, but will press on in order to obtain the prize. After all, like all things in regards to Christ and my life as a Christian, it is not only about me.