Stop Trying, Start Trusting

Stop trying, and start trusting. Easier said than done, right? It’s strange how we don’t mean to lean on our own understanding, yet we do. The tell-tale sign that we’re on the wrong path is always frustration. Anytime frustration sets in, I know immediately that something’s out of line spiritually.

When I became a Christian I was radically changed. Since then God’s continued to change my perspective as I’ve longed to walk intimately with him. Evaluating myself by the world’s standards has fallen off the priority list. When I was saved I experienced spiritual victory. The experience was so fresh and meaningful, and it never gets old. My relationship with Christ changed everything. I often sit and ponder the goodness of God and shed tears of joy over the fact that he accepts me even though I am completely unworthy.

After answering the call to ministry I was so zealous and passionate. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to win people to Jesus. I was eager to do the will of the God. I didn’t need to evaluate anything; I only needed to know God was leading. This was young, blind, courageous faith.

After several years of following Christ and many years of service in the church I’ve discovered that sometimes the courageous zeal that I experienced early on has shifted without me even realizing it. Today I evaluate things more closely; I try to make educated decisions. Yet the frustration proves to be weightier than the early years of following Christ blindly into anything he set before me.

I’ve began to pray for the Lord to renew the childlike trust that I walked in years ago. In doing so, I’ve relearned the secret of successful Christian living. Victory comes not in trying, but in trusting. Walking with Jesus is not about what I can do, but in what Christ has already done. All I need to do is to trust the Lord with all my heart.

Keeping the faith of a child is the goal. Matthew 18:3 reads, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What is the faith of a child? It’s a faith that completely trusts someone else to take care of him or her. The faith of a child is in every way dependent upon a guardian or parent for food, shelter, clothes, well-being, and everything else pertaining to life. This is where I want to live: a place of complete trust in my heavenly Father.

Christ was tempted in every way that I am tempted, yet he overcame. In his overcoming, I can overcome. I just need to trust him more completely. He lives in me, and he would do the same thing today that he did 2000 years ago. We all need to stop trying and start trusting… believing Jesus to be victory for us!  Stop trying and start trusting because the same Jesus who saves and forgives is able to provide success over anything that stands in the way.