Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Romans 5:8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but people aren’t always what they seem. They wear masks. I guess we all do to some extent. Now I’m a fairly trusting soul. I want to believe the best in people, and so over the years I’ve been burnt by those who took advantage of that.

And so with each of those experiences, you build up emotional scar tissue, to protect yourself, so that you won’t get hurt again next time.

It can make you bitter and twisted after a while; cynical. You can get to the point where you don’t trust anyone and that … that’s no way to live life.

I wonder as you look back into your past, who are the people you trusted, who then turned out not to be what they seemed to be; not to be on the outside, the person they turned out to be on the inside? Who are the people you trusted, who turned out not to be worthy of your trust?

And, more importantly, what scar tissue have those people left behind on your psyche, on your heart? It’s important, because those scars not only impact our ability to trust other people in the future, they impact our ability to trust God.

You know how it goes: once bitten, twice shy.

So when it comes to your ability to trust God, let me ask you, how do you know that God’s the real deal? How do you know that you can trust Him? You’d be surprised at just how many have a problem with that very thing – simple though it may sound – trusting God.

The Apostle Paul put it like this:

… we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:3-8)

How do we know that God’s the real deal? Because He doesn’t just talk about loving us. Talk, after all, is cheap. No, God does more than that. God shows us that His love is real.

No, actually … God does still more than that.

God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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