Character

Psalms 56:3-4

But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?

Is it hard for you to trust? Trust can be very difficult for any of us especially if someone has abused our trust. Trust can be something that takes a while to build back up if someone has hurt us before. Yet, trust is an important part of any relationship because it allows us not to solely to depend on ourselves.

We have to admit we can’t do it all, therefore, whether we like it or not we need others in the experience of life. When we don’t trust those who can be trusted we teach ourselves to isolate and fear begins to dominate. We also cheat ourselves from what others can offer our lives. The building of any relationship depends on our willingness to trust another. So how do we learn to trust?

To learn to trust involves the character of those we wish to trust. Because trust involves dependence upon another we need to make sure they are trustworthy through the character they have. Inspecting a person’s character is like inspecting the legs of a chair. We do so to make sure it can be depended on when pressure is involved. Second, to build trust also involves forgiveness. We may need to forgive those who have broken our trust before to give them a second chance as God has given us a second chance. Third, trust depends on grace. God has given us grace when we broke His trust so we must give grace to others who may break our trust. Any person will fail you at some point. It is inevitable because we are humans who sin. It is not always the other persons intention to break our trust so we must also be willing to show grace as others have had to show with us. The safest One to trust is God because He has the safest character of all, gives grace when we fail, and He never sins against us. May we learn to repair trust in others as we learn to trust Him.