Trust God, Not Man
Trust God, Not Man
by Bryan Craig
June 06, 2023
“But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” John 2:24-25 ESV
This is a peculiar verse, as it talks about how Jesus would not “entrust” himself to men, for He knew “what was in a man.” The word “entrust” is defined as “put (something) into someone's care or protection.” So, John is saying Jesus would not put his life under man’s care or protection. This is interesting to ponder. In the previous verses in John 2, Jesus had just performed His first miracle as He turned the water to wine at the wedding at Cana. Then, after amazing people at the wedding, the next scene is a demonstration of His righteous anger as he cleared the Temple of money changers with a whip. So, at the end of the day, some people loved Him and believed in Him “when they saw the signs He was doing.” Others hated Him for He was challenging their status quo and their view of religion as a way to make a profit.
Isn’t that how it is with us? Some people love us and some people hate us. It’s hard for those of us with people-pleasing personalities to accept the fact that anyone would hate us. Nevertheless, people are always capable of hating us due to their sinful nature. Often people despise what they do not understand, or traits in someone that challenges their thinking or their comfort zones. People can be very critical of one another. We know this because we ourselves can be critical.
And some people love us, which is nice, but it, too, can be problematic for us. If we start to accept worship from man, we take away the worship due God. Jesus, who was God, the King of Kings, would not entrust Himself to man. He would not let them make Him king while He lived as a man on earth. He, as Man, modeled the proper order of a disciple, putting God first, others second and Himself last. He never wants us to start believing our own Press and begin to live for the applause of man.
This is why Abiding in Christ is SO important. Every day is filled with good and bad and every encounter with our fellow humans is an opportunity for people to love us or to hate us. I believe Jesus showed us that we cannot define ourselves by what people think of us. We cannot entrust ourselves to others. We are to entrust ourselves to God (put ourselves into God’s care and protection). He is the only one that we can fully trust with no apprehension. He loves us, and He will never stop loving us, no matter what. He will affirm us and encourage us when we need a lift. He will also correct us when we need a rebuke.
If we can adopt this lifeview, it will help us as we deal with others. When people love us, we can receive it humbly but not allow it to go to our head. When people hate us, it will shield us from allowing it to turn to hatred toward them or toward ourselves.
One thing that helps me is to use my imagination and think of every person I encounter as they might have been when they were about 5 years old. Every person, at age five, though born with sin nature, was pure and innocent and loving and accepting. Five year olds just speak their minds, but we don’t get offended by what they say nor do we get puffed up if they love us. We were all five at one time. But then, the hardness of life and the deceitfulness of sin forged us into prejudices, suspicions, competition, jealousy, envy, hatred. Perhaps we need to go back in our own hearts to when we were five, back when we trusted God more.
Jesus made this point in Matthew 18:
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” Matthew 18:1-4
If we can get our love and our correction from God as we abide in Him, it will free us to love others more deeply, like a child, with no expectation and even give people a break when they hurt us. Actually, trusting God and entrusting others to God, helps us trust man, which is much more peaceful way to live.