I've had several occasions lately in marriage mentoring and pastoring situations where someone has lost trust in another. "I don't know how I can trust anyone again..." is a common phrase.
It hit me yesterday in one of these conversations. "Trust them for what?" I responded. And there was no response. Great question, I guess. We should be able to count on people for being people of their word, saying what they'll do, doing what they say. To protect our best interests, our heart? Hmmm...
Maybe not. People are people. Even pastors. We mess up. We get selfish. We stop thinking about the other guy sometimes. We hurt others.
I like Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." God is love. We can always trust him. But that begs the question. Trust him for what? Wealth, power, postion, perfect relationships with our spouses? Nope. We can trust Him that as we acknowledge Him in all we do, that we can trust He will accomplish His purposes for us, and our life will have true meaning.
As pastors in the local church, our "day job" is caring for others, nuturing their relationship to God; training and equipping them. But what happens when we are sinful humans? None of us can hit the bar God has set. That's why we need Jesus. But what about when we don't hit the bar someone else has set for us? We lose their trust.
Yesterday when that young lady I was talking to told me she trusted me as her pastor. I responded "That means a lot to me. It holds me accountable to not hurt you, to have your best interests in mind. But if I don't know how high the bar is, I can't tell you whether or not you can trust me to clear it."
This weekend, George will be talking about a way in which he feels he may have lost trust; not met our expectation of him as our pastor. I appreciate his heart to talk to us about it. So as you listen, remember, he's our pastor, and he's also human.
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