THE MESSAGE NOW
Vol 1, No. 10 – Monday, 12th September 2016
Zech.13:6, Eccl.7:16-17, 10:10, Jer.17:5, 1 Cor.13:1-13
The latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary defines trust as: ‘to have faith in (something or someone); to put/place one’s trust in, to have (every) confidence in, believe in, pin one’s hopes/faith on; rely on, depend on, bank on, count on’ …… Hmmm! have every confidence in someone, place one’s hopes/faith on something or someone? How so limited is man’s knowledge and understanding about the core issues of life.
Unarguably, the lesson envisaged by the above definition is such which saliently (not subtle) choruses unwavering trust in man. Alas! is the Oxford Dictionary and its writers/publicists aware that more often than not a man’s most trusted fellows are his greatest spy spying on him and his progress? So, why ‘put/place (every) confidence in’ him? This definition is nothing but a subtle (not salient) paradox of trust in experiential terms.
There are a number of paradoxes about trust that never cease to astound me. The first paradox is never trust any one who lies to you and never lie to any one who trusts you. The question is can one ever lie to any one whom he trusts or who trusts one? And why? Disturbingly shocking! isn’t it?
The second paradox is even more shocking. Trust is not love yet trust journeys in an inseparable company with love. Do you know that a man can trust the Lord so much that his trust in the Lord otherwise known as faith can fetch him all that he desires yet that trust is void of any aota of love for him?
Apostle WF Kumuyi opined that ‘mountains that cannot be moved by faith (in other words, trust) can only be moved by love. What does this mean? I do hope you agree with me Dearly Beloved, that our journey in this present world and to heaven eventually is an upward, mountain climbing one. The end of this journey therefore is attainable only by love and not trust/faith. Of course, this shows the invaluability and inviolability of love in terms of ascending in rapture to meet with our Lord. But despite this invaluability and inviolability of love, is it not still mind-blowing that the fountain of love is sustained by the pillar of trust/faith? What a paradox?!!!
My intent at this point in specificity (not in generality) is to establish the importance of love whilst at the same time demonstrating the inseparableness between love and trust/faith. However, this article for the moment is concerned primarily about relational trust (that is the relationship between man and man).
So, the next paradox has always left my spirit ever gasping. Those people a man trusts most end up betraying him first and hurting him deepest. Dearly Beloved, do we have a penchant for being unreliable with confidentialities vested in us? It is an evil crime to betray mutual or collective trust. Those who invest their time and energy betraying others will forever end up very badly. Did not the Lord vest so much trust in the man Judas? So much trust that He made him the treasurer. Yet Judas betrayed that trust in every way. How did he end up? Are you a spy on your boss, leader of any kind, friend or co-workers? Are we trusted but we are not true? Man in his limited knowledge more often than not trusts his greatest enemy as his greatest confidant. That too is one of the many paradoxes of trust.
Man’s inhumanity to man is today a most common phenomenon. So much prevalent today to such an extent that Marley lamented regrettably in his day raising yet another paradox: ‘your worst enemy may be your best friend, and your best friend your worst enemy’! Oh man! can you not take lectures from the tragedies of Julius Ceasar and Brutus? What happened to Brutus in the end? Did he wear that great Roman crown that he craved so much for afterall?
Oh! my heart bleeds. Remember that the treatment you are meting out to others whether it be good or evil is returning some day to hail or haunt you. Life and life’s treatment of one man to another is like a looking glass giving back to every man the reflection of his face. Are you aware of this?
It is said that the revolving of the earth round the sun causes day and night. Isn’t it? Likewise humanistic ethos should inform anyone that what goes around comes around. In the end, I must safely assert that what killed Julius Caesar is not Brutus’ betrayal but Julius Caesar’s excessive trust in a man. Thus Ceasar’s best friend was his worst enemy. Dearly Beloved, learn very firm lessons of life from the source, baker and bakery cautionary guide expoused to me by Dr. Samuel Oladele. What does this source, baker and bakery cautionary guide mean?
It means in sum that he who empties his mind’s treasury to another is worse than a fool. Do I hear you say how? I have learnt in the years of my life that meeting the needs of others is an absolute necessity. I have also learnt in the most recent years of my life that whilst the art and act of giving is not just paramount but absolute, revealing the source of my sustenance however is absolutely unneedful. Even with the most trusted people, the truth is, men have the potent tendency to burn down the bakery which is your source of sustenance. Worst still, should the first attack of burning down your bakery fail, such men can go all the way to kill your baker. In either or all of these two treacherous betrayals, the question is, what happens to your sources of sustenance?
By the way, should I ever blame anyone for betraying me? Oh! No. In order to avoid a repeat of any betrayal, it is only wise for me to put the blame where it belongs. Why? To start with, do you know that if a man betrays you once; it is his own fault. If he succeeds in betraying you the second time, then it is your own fault.
In my summative view therefore, the solution is perhaps fivefold: (1) always leave room for disappointment, (2) trust men moderately, never trust men fully, (3) know that men will always be men. Only God stands alone and unmovable, true and with spotless trustworthiness. Even a Man of God is first and foremost a man before ever becoming Man of God, (4) Do not think that trusting in a fellow Christian is by any means synonymous with being righteous, and (5) Dearly Beloved, trust can save life: trust can also end life. In the name of the Lord Jesus, you and I will not end up like Julius Caesar.
Pray now:
Father, retrieve my most vital information from the information bank of my enemies.
Father, deliver me from unfriendly friend.
Father, give grace to me and my Christian friends and brethren to be more principled and matured with spiritual and vital information.
Father, heal me and my destiny from every injury caused by my mouth and those of others.
Whether the enemy likes it or not, I will not lose the major thing in life.
Pastor Mike
