Jesus Wants Us To "Trust Fall" Into Him

I remember being a youth pastor and doing “trust falls” with kids in our group. You would have one student stand on a table facing away from a group of kids on the floor with outstretched arms ready to catch. You would have the student being caught ask if everyone was ready, the group would respond, and then the kid would try and stay stiff as a board while falling into their friend’s arms. It was so interesting to me to see kids who would readily fall back and ones that would refuse and step down off the table because they were terrified. I knew some of the stories of the kids who participated and the ones who had trust issues in life were always the ones who would either cry or not even attempt to fall back.
 
Trust is the key element in any relationship. A lack of trust inhibits the ability to grow in all relationships. Think about the trust Jesus put in his disciples before he went to heaven and even the trust he has in us when we accept him into our heart and life. He was entrusting the hope of eternal life and salvation to a group of guys that had times of doubt, misunderstanding, overestimating their importance and even denying him! But Jesus still trusted them with the incredible message of the gospel.
 
It is still boggling to the mind how much Jesus trusted that these men would do what he asked and with the power that they would need to look past persecution and to the hope of glory in Christ. I think the primary factor that took them from ordinary followers to entrusted ambassadors of the gospel was the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
 
Look at Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
 
The power God gives is for the purpose He needs. The ultimate purpose of our lives on this earth is not just to make it to heaven and save our own skin. It is to be the witness that Jesus needs us to be to the people around us. Both of these principles take an incredible amount of trust in God that our eternity is secure in him and that the Holy Spirit will guide and direct our lives for us personally and the people we are supposed to connect each day.
 
Today, take an inventory of your own life and possible reasons why you don’t trust. Is it because of past hurts from people in your life? Was it from someone in the church who spoke something to you and caused you to stop trusting organized religion? Whatever the reason, we were not created to be distrustful. Even Jesus tried his best to trust all his disciples but still had to deal with Judas who ultimately betrayed him. This is not to say we need to be naive in our relationships, but that we focus on Jesus and his power to guide and heal from the inside out.
 
Praying for you to have healing from past hurts and that you have the level of trust in Jesus that he has in you to be able to carry his word to the world around you!