Trust is earned, obeying is learned. Rarely, if ever do we trust anyone who has not proven that right to be trusted, with that must come the knowledge that at any moment that trusting factor within us may be lost because of the actions or words of the one we have entrusted, here the level of trust we are willing to give becomes relative to our desire to continue the relationship.
Obeying is an entirely different concept, we do not need to trust someone to obey them, in fact we rarely obey those we trust for it is not necessary for them to give us orders, for we give willingly to those we trust, their interests are our interests.
Most actions of trust are done through the emotion of love, the majority of those we obey are done through fear, if both do not obtain the term respect along with them, neither will be of any value. We are both emotion based and logic based creations of the Almighty, it is our responsibility to “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (1 Cor. 9:27) We must be able to define who we are in Christ by not only love, but with the logic and reasoning skills to back up the giving and receiving of love. In other words, you must be able to explain why you trust someone, why you are obeying someone, why you love or allow any other emotion to enter into your life about anyone or anything.
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” (Heb. 12:6) Why, to show love through the desire in us to obey. If we had no sin nature, would it be necessary for the Lord to chasten us? Ask Adam and Eve, they, along with all of creation, were and are continuing to be punished, as it were, because of the actions of one man. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Romans 5:12) And yet the actions that Adam produced in that moment were done with no sin nature within him.
We in the human race are not trustworthy individuals as a whole, and it is not because of the sin nature that resides within us, the proof is Adam and Eve. No sin, yet still unwilling to obey, therefore not trustworthy in this respect. The question is not can we trust God, “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” (1 Thess. 5:24) He need do no more to prove His trustworthiness, the question is, can He trust you? That kind of hits home, doesn’t it?
Have you shown yourself to be trustworthy, do your actions and deeds on a continuous level show devotion and trust, have you learned the terminology of the word Sovereign and the only One it can ever truly be applied to, are you obeying. Here is how the Lord determines how much we trust Him, and how much we can be trusted, by how much we obey.
We have shown conclusively that it is not necessary to have a sin nature to be disobedient, that excuse will not now and never has been viable. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Gal. 5:1) The moment Adam took a bite of that fruit, he became disobedient, he became untrustworthy, our battle is no different, we have the same free will, those who are influenced by anything outside of that free will still have no excuse, the choice is always ours. To obey the commandments of Christ is the only way possible to show ourselves trustworthy, it matters little how you feel about that obedience, for the saved man, emotions play a secondary role, his life is not based, or ruled, by his emotional state at the moment, faith has very little to do with feelings, it is based and rooted in the facts that He who has promised has more than adequately shown Himself trustworthy, and therefore worthy to be obeyed.
Logic of course must no more override emotions than emotions should be the dominate controller of our lives, without the proper balance, true faith will remain elusive to us. Our emotional state has little to do, if anything, with the promises that have been revealed to us in the Scriptures, and yet the blessings of the ability to feel love, given to us by the One that is love, are just as necessary to our soul as the truth is. We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)
The one who attempts to live their life in a logical, deductive reasoning skilled way will soon find himself in a cold, hard world, void of the necessity of emotions, he will become as tinkling brass. “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:2) The one who bases and lives their life solely upon emotions, who allows them to go unchecked, who is ruled by their current emotional state, will never know true faith in Christ, for they have not learned to keep their body under subjection, they will be as the “wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” (James 1:6) Both attributes that we have been blessed with, logic and emotion, must be handled with wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual discernment, both are necessary in their entirety, for both are needed to trust and obey.
Our Lord has shown Himself worthy of all honor, praise, and glory, He has proven to us that He is worthy of our trust and obedience, show yourself to be trustworthy and obedient to Him.
