Upon retiring a decade ago, I chose to take half my pension in a lump sum and the remainder in a series of monthly installments. The initial check was to come via courier on a certain day, so I waited for the doorbell — surely they would hand over my treasure face-to-face. As the day went on, I became progressively edgier until, stepping out the front door at one point, I glanced down and noticed an envelope half sticking out from beneath our welcome mat. There it lay, half of a pension built up over 35 years of hard work, now exposed with all the “protection” of a doormat. At that moment and all the way to the bank, I couldn’t wait to get this life savings transfer instrument out of my clutches and safely into the hands of those on whose security I could rely.
In John’s first letter to the early church, and specifically in 1 John 4:7 – 5:5, the apostle mentioned “love” or its variations — “loves,” “loved,” and “loving” — 32 times in 20 short verses. The passage is as much refreshing as amazing. Yet buried in all this love-speak was another four-letter word worth exploring: rely. John writes: “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”1 Most versions accurately translate the word as “believe,” yet the NIV’s use of “rely” here urges us toward a level of belief far beyond mental assent, to a relinquishment of self-will and complete entrustment of our entire lives to God, whose ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than ours.2
Paul exemplifies belief to the point of reliance. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”3 The bold apostle understood true belief means relinquishing self-will and relying completely on God. Of his former religious achievements and repute, Paul now considered “everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.”4 This is the kind of belief to which we are called, belief to the point of entrustment. This is life safely deposited in Christ on whose love we can rely. Take it to the bank.
“Your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” — Colossians 3:3 NIV
Father, You are good, and in goodness You reach out to us. So fill us with the knowledge of Your love that we would joyfully rely on You every step of our lives. In Christ we pray. Amen.
1 1 John 4:15-16 NIV
2 Isaiah 55:6
3 Galatians 2:20 NIV
4 Philippians 3:8 NIV
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Paul Nordman—Author 