Faith, part 10

Luke 16:10-12 states:

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?”

Faith creates trust. When you are good to others you prove that they can have faith in you. When you betray their trust they have no reason to have faith in you. When we have faith in the Lord He shows His faith in us by presenting us with His will. He only presents His will to one He believes is ready to follow it, and that He can trust. When we follow His will we do what He trusted us to do. He becomes angry when we choose to ignore His will. He will have no reason to trust us with His will again. The blessings He would have given us for following His will are not going to be given to us.

When no one can have faith in us we will be left with nothing. No person will have any reason to rely on us for anything. The Lord will have no reason to trust us with His will. Our deceit and betrayal will have dire consequences on our ability to bring others to Christ, and our ability to serve the Lord. Why would anyone listen to the gospel presented by someone they have no faith in?

When we act in a way that makes it so neither man nor God trusts us than repentance is necessary. Not only must we ask the Lord for forgiveness, but we must also show those we’ve deceived that they can have faith in us again. With the Lord it is important to remember He wants us to follow His will. He gives us His will, and wants us to know the blessings that come with it. He will rejoice when we turn from our evil ways.

Unfortunately, man is not always the same as God. People don’t always forgive so easily. Perhaps you have harmed someone so much that they won’t trust you again. You must still try to regain their trust. Your failure to get their trust does not mean that you can become the same evil person they believe you are. The sin of not forgiving is theirs, and you have redemption. Don’t give up on them, but don’t ignore the Lord’s will for you just so you can convince an unforgiving person to forgive you. Trust in the Lord, and He will trust in you. What others think of your trust doesn’t matter because your faith should not be in them. It should be in the Lord who created you, and has the faith to believe you can do the thing He sent you for.