Many years ago, when I was a youth in my youth group at church, we would play this game where someone would stand in front of someone else.  The person standing in front, would fold their arms in front of them, and then would begin to fall backwards – trusting that the one who was standing behind them would catch their fall.

Of course, the whole object is to TRUST in the one who was standing behind you to catch you so that you don’t fall backwards and hit your head on the floor.  Just the thought of hearing your head crash on a hard floor, is painful enough.  Honestly, I cannot remember if I was able to go through with it.  I am not sure that I would trust anyone enough to catch my fall –

Trust is a difficult concept for me.  It’s one of those words that you can’t hold or touch.  And, so I looked the word up in the dictionary.

In Merriam Webster, it states: “ assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.  It is one in which confidence is placed.  Ok…A very secular understanding of the word, TRUST.  And, then I went back to my Greek.  The word TRUST in Greek is pisteuo. In the Greek language, the word “pisteuo” means TO BELIEVE!

And so, as we enter John’s Gospel, we know that John wants more than anything for his readers to know Jesus Christ in order that they BELIEVE – PISTEUO – Trust!

John states clearly the reason for his Gospel: “These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through BELIEVEING (TRUST) – you may have LIFE in HIS Name.” (John 20:31)

And, so you see…I find this problematic.  I stand here and I tell you: I believe in Jesus Christ – He is my Lord and Savior.  However, if BELIEVING is the same as TRUSTING – If to believe in the Resurrected Christ means that I TRUST HIM – 100% TRUST Him with my life – I have to ask: Am I truly a BELIEVER?   Do I TRUST and BELIEVE that Jesus will provide what we need to do his work?

It is Biblical to give 10% of your income to God – Do I trust that if I truly give 10% of my first fruits to God and for God’s work, will I have enough LEFT OVER to sustain?  Will God take care of me and provide?

Do you trust that when Jesus went to the cross so that your sins are forgiven that you are truly forgiven?

Someone told me the other day that he believed and trusted in God’s Words of Forgiveness.  But, within the next breath he started talking about how much of his adult life he had messed up and that he really didn’t know if he was going to have salvation.

PISTEUO –   To believe in Jesus Christ is TRUST HIM!  This begs the question:  ARE YOU A BELIEVER?  Can you say truthfully that you trust Jesus Christ with your money, with your heart, and with your life?

This is problematic with me:  I know I can say it and think I mean it – but when it comes to letting go of my control – when I’m beginning to fall backwards – do I trust God?

Our daughter was a late bloomer in learning how to ride a bicycle.  She had some eyesight problems that messed with her perception.  And, so learning things like tying her shoes and riding a bike were difficult for her until we were able to correct it.  So, she was probably about in the third grade when she began to learn how to ride.

We were living in Kentucky at the time, near Cincinnati.  It was very hilly.  Our neighborhood was a newer development.  So, at the bottom of this really steep hill, a house had not been built yet.  Literally, at the bottom of the hill, there was about a 50 foot or more drop that went straight down.  To fall off the edge of this hill would definitely be very dangerous.

One afternoon, we went to ride our bikes.  I went down the hill first.  It was steep and the momentum of the ride was thrilling.  However, after I reached the bottom of the hill, I turned around to see our daughter flying down the hill as she is screaming, “How do I stop?”  I tried to tell her to just pedal backwards, but in her fear, she could not hear me.

I turned around to see that drop off from the hill.  I had the horrific vision of her flying off that cliff.  And, so I did what any mother would do…I braced myself and stood in front of her so that I would break the impact of her crash and keep her from going down the hill.  No doubt it was painful, but at the end, we were OK.

Our daughter had lost total control.  I only did for my daughter what Jesus would do for each one of us.

Are you a BELIEVER?  Do you trust – PISTEUO –  in the Lord Jesus Christ?  John says:  In him was LIFE and the LIFE was the LIGHT of ALL PEOPLE.

And, how do we achieve this LIFE and LIGHT?  Through TRUST (Pisteuo) in the One who loves us so much – IF only we can just trust HIM!  Trust that we have eternal life – right now.  That death is not the end, but just a period at the end of a sentence…Trust that God’s got us even when we are falling backwards out of control or flying down a hill so fast, we cannot stop the bad things from happening…

TRUSTING – BELIEVING in Jesus Christ (at least for me) is waking up in the morning and realizing that in all actuality, I have no control of my life.  Anything can happen today in which I am completely and totally have no control over – Something so horrific that it may be the end of this life here on earth.

Isn’t this the reality?

If you can wrap your head around that – I believe that we can begin to TRUST – and BELIEVE that when we begin to know who our God is and how much our God loves us – we can LET GO of who we are and accept Jesus’ invitation to with Him and IN HIM. –

Are you a Believer?