Luke 16:10-12, NIV - “Whoever can be trusted with
very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very
little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in
handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone
else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
Forgiveness is not a restoration of
trust. A restoration of trust is often
equated with forgiveness and this is a mistake.
Often people shun the possibility of forgiving another because they
mistakenly believe that to do so would constitute a choice to trust them
again. Nothing could be further from the
truth. Trust has to earned where
forgiveness can be offered to even an untrustworthy recipient. You
can forgive someone who you probably will never trust again. Nothing is required from the offender to be
forgiven, but reestablishing trust will require much work by both parties. Because this is true, offering forgiveness to
someone often involves setting boundaries with them at the same time. We will
say much more about this in future reflections.
Being forgiven by God does not mean
we have been trusted by God with things we were trusted with once before. Even with God, trust has to earned and broken
trust has to be earned again. God’s
forgiveness can and should prompt us to move toward trustworthiness, but we do
indeed have to put in the work. Building
trust is the work of all relationships with God and people. God is constantly building trust with us by
keeping promises, taking care of us, and always telling us the truth. God forgives us for breaking our trust with
God, but the rebuilding of trust is our role in the relationship. We will find that, as we do this in little
ways, we will be trusted with more.
Question: What is an
area where you realize that you need to build up trustworthiness with God?
Prayer: Thank you God
for always being trustworthy and keeping your promises. Mold my spirit to be more like you that I
might build trust with you and others. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people in prison today for crimes they did not commit.
Song: Imagine this
song as a message from God
Honesty – Billy Joel
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