Trust

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
1 Peter 1:18-19 (TNIV)

Faith lies at the heart of the Christian life.

Faith simply means “trust.” We can fully trust Jesus for our salvation.

The New Testament explicitly tells us that we are justified not by anything we do or can do, but simply by trusting in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Romans 3:28, the apostle Paul wrote, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

Salvation does not depend on us at all, but only on Jesus.

When we trust God, we have no need to try to hide any part of our lives from him. We’re not afraid of God, even when we sin. Instead of being afraid, we trust him to never stop loving us, and to stand by us, helping us on the path to overcoming our sins.

When we trust God, we can give ourselves to him in complete confidence that he will make us into the person he created us to be.

When we trust God, we come to see that he is our greatest priority, the ground and substance of our lives. As Paul told the philosophers in Athens, in God we live and move and have our being.

He is more important to us than anything else-more valuable than possessions, money, time, reputation and even this mortal life.

We trust that God knows what’s best for us, and we want to please him. He is our point of reference, our foundation for a meaningful life.

We want to serve him, not out of fear, but out of love-not begrudgingly, but freely given in joy. We trust his judgment. We trust his word and his ways. We trust him to give us a new heart, to make us more and more like him, to lead us to love what he loves and to value what he values. And we trust him to always love us and to never give up on us.

And again, we would never be able to do any of this on our own. It is Jesus who does it in us and for us, from the inside out, through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. We are beloved children of God by God’s own will and purpose; bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus.

We can trust God with not only our present, but also with our past and our future. In Jesus Christ, our Father in heaven redeems everything about us. Like a toddler resting fearlessly and contentedly in its mother’s arms, we can rest securely in the love of the Father, the Son and the Spirit.

Prayer
Great God, I place my trust in Jesus, who is the revelation of who You are. Thank you for that I can give myself completely to him and trust him with my present and future life.
Amen

Study by Joseph Tkach