Faith = Trust

I'm reading a book called 95 Theses on Righteousness by Faith by Morris Venden. And although I find myself not agreeing completely with everything he says in the book, there is a lot of glaring truth in there that has made me wake up and question the way I live my life and my relationship with God. One of the things he talks about is faith, and that faith is really trust in God.

Do we really trust God as we should? Obviously the only way we can trust Him is if we know Him, and we know Him the same way we get to know our friends and acquaintances - we build  relationships by spending quality time with people; talking with them, communicating. That's how it is with God. And just like it takes time to trust people, the more we know, the more we are able to trust.

Something I've learned though: A relationship with God is not instant. It takes time and it takes honest work and commitment on our parts. Revelation 3:20 says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Jesus is always there, always knocking. It is up to us to open for him. But we have to keep him inside once we've opened that door. We need to spend time with him daily; by praying and by reading his word - the Bible.

Jesus himself was the example of this when he was on earth. He spent time daily with his father in prayer. He is our perfect example, following him, we cannot go wrong.

I must admit that I find it difficult to follow this advice. I get distracted by worldly things all the time, and I always think, "what's one day not reading my Bible?" Well, it's a lot. Ellen White says in Messages to Young People that just one time is all it takes to make the second, third and fourth time easier. So spending one day without communing with God makes it easier to go another day, and another, until you're completely disconnected from him.

It goes both ways though - the more time you spend with Him, the more time you want to spend with Him. Because Jesus is truly wonderful.