Can you be trusted?

After our first daughter was born I got a job as a wood machinist in a furniture factory in a small place which I count as my hometown. When we looked for a place to live we found we could not afford the rent asked around town. We did find a small cottage on half a lot which would end up cheaper to buy than rent.

So I searched in the city where we lived for a mortgage for the “new” house. The reaction of the loan managers ranged from suspicion (the low cost of the house) to disrespect.

At my wit’s end (a short journey much of the time) I travelled to the larger town near the house we wanted to purchase. The first attempt produced the same result as in the city.

So I walked down the street to a small trust company and got in to meet with the manager. I said what I needed and described the house. He responded with, “Do you want to take the money with you or shall I send it to the lawyer?”

I sat speechless (for a fraction of a moment since speechless describes a syndrome I rarely suffer). I then recounted how every other company had refused to help. He recounted how he golfed with the lawyer who had done the legal business for my clan for three generations. The lawyer simply asked if I had been in to inquire about a mortgage. The manager replied in the negative. The lawyer then told him that if I came in my word, like that of my whole clan, was solid and could be trusted. The loan came through because a reliable witness testified of our clan’s reputation as promise-keepers.

That story would work as a parable, and every word is true.

My spiritual life stands on something similar, only better. God promises and delivers:

  • Jesus promised a blessing when people hate us and slander us and persecute us (Matthew 5:10-12).
  • Jesus promised to be with us all the way to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
  • Through Paul God promises a peace that goes beyond anything we can imagine (Philippians 4:7).
  • And Jesus also promised that if anyone has to give up wealth or friends, or even family, the rewards of God will count as so much more it can hardly be calculated (Matthew 19:29).

We live by faith.

Faith makes real what goes beyond the limits of our five senses and finite logic. That trust company manager (nice pun!) had faith in the word of the lawyer, who had faith in the longstanding evidence of the trustworthiness of my clan.

On an eternal scale trust the word of God. Otherwise you go crazy doing stuff “just in case God can’t be trusted”.

Trust me, that’s crazy.