Saturday, September 18, 2010

Grace Makes Your World A Better Place

I love watching rugby league, especially the NRL playoffs. Sadly the Warriors are no longer with us. R.I.P.

In the game last night, the Wests Tigers defeated the Canberra Raiders 26-24. The Raiders missed an easy kick on full time which would have tied the game. Exciting stuff!

During the game, some Raiders supporters were holding a sign which said "In Croker We Trust".

Croker was their kicker. Who missed the important kick. In hindsight, it seems a bit unwise to have put your trust in someone who ultimately let you down doesn't it!

Now, i'm not taking their level of trust too seriously, it was a sign at a sports ground! but it does highlight a couple of important questions.

Firstly, who do you trust your life to? God? Your family? Friends? Tv? Money?... Think about that...

Secondly, do you trust people in your life, and if so, how much? "Everyone is trustworthy somewhere in their lives, but nobody is trustworthy everywhere in their lives". I.e There is good in everyone, yet no one is perfect. For example, Croker can be trusted to play a great game of league, but he can't be trusted to make 100% of his kicks for his entire career! We all make the mistake of judging people as either "good" or "bad". I like them or I don't. But in fact, that is a very unhealthy way to conduct our relationships. Only God is completely trustworthy, and only the devil is completely untrustworthy. Everyone else is somewhere in between!

So when someone lets you down, just relax! Cut them some slack, (also, you may have let them down before and not realised). And if someone you know seems to be just awesome, they will probably let you down one day in the future, so don't put them on a pedestal and worship them!

Our human tendency is to swing between the extremes, but wisdom is reasonable, easily reasoned with, and knows when a healthy balance is needed.

We shouldn't trust everyone completely. Conversely, we shouldn't shut down and trust no one. Trust is a risk, and you choose how much you are willing to risk, how much trust have they earned? We will all get hurt, that is life, but what you do when that happens will shape your life. Often, the best thing to do is to talk to the person who has hurt you, and tell them what they need to do to earn your trust back. If they get an attitude and want a fight etc, then you know you can't trust them yet! But if they apologise and sincerely want your trust in them to be restored, then your relationship can be healed.

No one is perfect, and love covers a multitude of sins. Trust still needs to be earned though. That is simple wisdom 101.

We are saved by grace and our relationships are saved by showing eachother grace.

Ooh I like that! Seems like a good place to end:)

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