Earning Trust

After living through the Iowa presidential caucuses, I noticed how the process seemed to be addressing one question: who can we trust to be our next president? Unfortunately, too much of the rhetoric was dominated by candidates trumpeting the reasons why the other candidates were not trustworthy. I’m sure this will be repeated throughout the campaign until the election is over. But even after the election a form of that question will still be pervasive in our lives: Who can we trust?

Simon Sinek is a current leadership speaker who has several great messages available on the internet about trust and leadership. (click here for a good example, especially the first 12 minutes about trust.) Sinek states that humans have needed to trust in order to survive because we are meant to live with other people as a group.

So who can we trust? Our US currency says, “In God we trust.” The Bible includes multiple reference to God being trustworthy and inviting people to trust in God. I believe that our relationship with God is the place to start. But then, who on earth can we trust? And more importantly, how can we become a person that other people can trust?

I’ve learned that I can’t ask other people to trust me. I can only try to earn their trust. This can be challenging whenever I’m part of a bigger organization such as a church or a family where it may be impossible for everyone to get what they want. So how do we earn someone’s trust?

I believe we can look to God for the example. How do we know that we can trust God? In Jesus we can see the process. God came to be with us in Jesus who walked with us and can relate to the lives of people. He taught but he also listened. He learned the culture and spoke the language with images and stories that people could understand. But above it all, Jesus was willing to put the needs of others above his own. From the temptation in the wilderness to the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus struggled with the transformation from his personal preference to God’s preferred future. That transformation can be summarized in the prayer Jesus offered to God on the night he was betrayed, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

During Holy Week Christians will remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. In that sacrifice Jesus earned our trust. In the resurrection of Jesus on Easter God has earned our trust. Now it is up to us to earn the trust of the people around us so that we can bring a vision of God’s preferred future and change this world. The future depends upon us.

It is important to ask, “Who can we trust?” But it is more important to become a person that other people can trust. It will require sacrifice, taking up our cross and putting others people’s needs above our own. But the result will be an Easter joy of relationships that reflect God’s relationship with us and offer a taste of heaven.