Somebody tells you something. They sound very matter-of-fact about it. They appear convinced in what they’re saying. Then you ask them some questions about what they’ve said and it soon emerges that the confidence they showed at first was based on nothing more than having heard it from what they thought to be a trusted source – someone on the ground, a news feed, a textbook, someone in a position of authority.
What life teaches you fairly quickly, however, is that you can’t believe everything you hear. You can’t believe everything you watch. You can’t believe everything you read.
You’ve got to check it out and corroborate what you receive to see if it all adds up. Even that process, however, is made toughter when you consider the factors that are involved in getting to the truth of the matter. What we’re often left with is the best we can do based on the lens through which we view things.
It was a lot easier when the matter of respect and honour was linked to trusted sources. Authority figures in life exercised their responsibility in a way that gave the impression they could be trusted. The effect of questioning, deconstructing and destablising these sources and their fallibility and susceptibility to corruption left things up in the air.
Who can be trusted? How do you know that source is reliable?
They have letters after their name. They went to an educational institution for years. They wear the clothing of someone who is to revered. They are prominent in all media. They have millions of followers, subscribers and supporters. They sound so compelling, they have such a charismatic character.
The platform set up to support something that helps soon becomes an altar built to deify the individual and their thoughts. Even when it sounds a little odd, their track record and their following can help to just overlook those things. Even if those things are really the red flags that are hinting at disaster up ahead.
So what do I do? Do I just make it up as I go along? Do I just fall in with what everyone else is doing to get by and grab whatever pieces of happiness I can until this course is over?
Jesus is a trusted source. The claims about Him are stark and either to be received wholesale or dismissed as dangerously deluded. I have found that trusting Him and getting to know Him by His Word and by His Spirit reveals a character who can be trusted not just because of charisma. Ther is power in the content of what He taught and that is reinforced in the person He was on earth and His work on earth as recorded by those who were either eyewitnesses or engaged with them.
It is faith in Jesus as He reveals Himself that helps to discover what’s worth trusting and what’s worth leaving to the judgement of others. As long as children need parental figures, there will always be a need for the concept of an authroity figure. That does not have to be a bad thing. It does not have to be seen as a necessary evil. Especially when we consider again the responsibility of that parental figure. Before teachers, doctors, soldiers, police, lawyers, bankers, judges and those other occupations that take on authority status that parenting figure is to be there to establish the framework of what’s right, what’s fair, how to deal with hurt and pain and how to find purpose and fulfilment. Jesus highlights that all of this comes from a loving heavenly Father, Creator of all mankind who is ever available to lead us and guide us to what is right, fair, just, wholesome expressed in peace.
The alternative is to do away with that and work things out for ourselves, setting up our own way of understanding things and expecting others to accept it wihtout such a trustworthy source to rely on.
Looking at the calamity, chaos and confusion that particular alternative cultivates, I prefer to go for the trusted source. Looking at the wisdom, justice, mercy and peace found in that trusted source it makes it all the more likely that I will go on putting my trust in that source.
It’s something that I would commend you exploring for yourself.
(Image courtesy of Pexels)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 