THE LOST ART OF RELATIONSHIP
set. Faithfulness can and should be a standard in our relationships.
The trouble comes when the standards become our expectations of others. If “not lying” is a standard, our expectation can be that someone will never lie to us. Since no one is perfect and all of us are one bad decision away from making a wrong choice, we will not be able to build trust with others, especially since we cannot even meet our own expectations in relationships with others all of the time. This is why forgiveness is so necessary.
We build trust with others when someone wrongs us and comes to us and asks for forgiveness. The standard would be if someone were to hurt us in some way, they would own it and come to us to reconcile. The expectation would be that they would never wrong us. Forgiveness and reconciliation should also become the standard because all of us fail.
We should not make our expectations the standards in our relationships. If we do, we set our relationships up for failure from the beginning. Standards are necessary. Expectations are our desires. The space between the two is where we exercise forgiveness, acceptance, understanding, and humility.
God Is Trustworthy
Jesus has more than earned our trust. He is the only One that has ever lived a sinless life. He proved his commitment to us by taking on the sin of the world— our sin—and loved us even before we had proven ourselves as trustworthy.
The Scriptures talk of trust and warn us not to place our eternal trust in anyone other than God Himself. Jeremiah 17:5–8 says,
“This is what the Lord says, ‘Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in barren wilderness in an uninhabited salty land. But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.’”
Let the words of this passage sink into the deepest parts of your soul. When we trust in our finances to provide what we need, we will never have enough. When we trust our friends for our fulfillment, we will always come up short of feeling fulfilled. When we trust in a leader for complete guidance, we will not reach our full potential.