RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2020-08-21	What Does It Look Like To Trust In Jesus?
		What about trusting in Jesus. We start out by saying, “you believe in Him” or “You really believe in Him”. This is true. But what does that look like? How does it exhibit itself? Let's say you used to desire pornography. Then God regenerated your heart. Now I hate that. You do not want that anymore. So you see what that looks like. You do not do that ugly thing anymore. Repentance can be more visible, but trust is more invisible in the heart. To illustrate, you as a child likely had an uncle who came to a family gathering who tended to stir up trouble. He would play games with you and maybe had you stand on a chair and he would ask you to fall back into his arms saying “trust me”. How well did you do? If you trusted yourself you depended on your ability to hold the back of the chair and look behind to make sure it was safe. Knowing the uncle as you do, you had no good reason to rely on him to catch you. Faith in Jesus is where your trust in Jesus which allows you to fall back into His arms with assurance you are safe. You trust Him because you believe He is mighty to save and deliver you. You rest in Him. You stop trying to control all things. You stop worrying about all things knowing He has all power and is in control. You believe in His promises. We learn to rest in His strength, and not our own. So what does that look like? In your mind you determine you are done with the ways of the world. Jesus promises to deliver you from the wrath of the Father and to adopt you as His child. That is it. I am wholly His. Note that this is less than a commitment to Him, and more of a dying to self. Dying to self is part of being born again. The old self dies and the new self comes to life (Jn.3:3-7). He commits Himself to you. This is a much safer position to be in. You increasingly seek to follow Him. You are not going to be stressed out by stuff, because you know God has it under control. So here is where it can get a bit tricky. How much of this do you have to have in order to be saved? There is a balance here that needs to be understood. Jesus referred to a mustard seed in relation to faith (Mt.17:20; Lk.17:6). And the mustard seed is small. And yet, we are told to not be people of “little faith” (Mt.6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; Lk.12:28). The idea is that we all start out with little faith. But then it grows. It will exhibit itself in the form of fruit. This is the marker. This is how you can know it is real in your life (Jn.15:2,5,16). You bear fruit. This is how you know you are trusting in Jesus. Your desires are changing from the lusts of the world, to the delights of Jesus. You are developing more love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Ga.5:22-23). Progressively you will know that you are growing in faith as He grows you in holiness (1Pe.2:1-5). Trust in Him, He saves you, then grow in the Word. That is the Christian life. Listen to the Word. Fellowship around the Word. This will be the fertilizer that God uses to grow you further in faith. Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

An Evangelical Free Church of America

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