Trust is a must

While reading 'The Great Omission' by Dallas Willard I ran across this statement, "You can't trust him [Jesus] without believing that he was right about everything, and that he alone has the key to every aspect of our lives here on earth.  But if you believe that, you will naturally want to stay just as close to him as you can, in every aspect of your life." Willard is arguing against those people who attempt to trust Jesus for their salvation but do not trust him with much else.  He also argues, in accord with Tozer, that 'salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred scriptures'.

I had to stop and think hard after I read this, I mean really think.  At first I laughed, thinking about 'those people' who try and get away with using Jesus as a get out of hell free card and refuse to enter into relationship with him.  But the more I thought about it the more that nagging voice inside my head kept saying, 'are you so different?'  I really don't like that little voice because every time someone speaks truth and I spend some time thinking about it, he latches on to it and convicts me.  It's really not fun when you come to the realization that you aren't perfect and you do have a lot of soul work to do.

And in this instance Willard was speaking truth in an unmistakable fashion.  If we really believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he is our salvation then we must trust that he is right about everything.  That his teachings in the Gospel accounts are true about money, divorce, adultery, anger, servanthood, discipleship, love, etc.  And if he was right about everything, how does my life line up with his teachings and expectations?Does my life show the depth of trust in Jesus that it should?

What a good question, and what a humiliating answer I have.  No.  No my life doesn't show the depth of trust in Jesus that it should.  And that answer really, really frustrates me.  I'm not trying to sound pious or like a holy roller, but in a moment of pure honesty and genuine truth, I am extremely frustrated that I don't trust Jesus like I should.

Let me challenge you to ask yourself that same question.