Friday, April 25, 2008

I recently ran across this quote by John Ortberg and really liked it:

Faith is not simply holy beliefs. Many people, when they think about Faith, think, "I believe that God exists, or that Scripture is accurate, or love is the greatest virtue." But, at its core, faith is not simply the belief in a statement; it puts trust in a person. ...What do you do when you trust somebody? You take a risk. It could be small, or it could be big. I go to a restaurant that you recommend. I read a book, because you tell me that it is good. I tell you a secret, and then I see if you keep it confidential. I invite you to be a partner in a business deal. Are you going to burn me? I ask you to be my friend. Are you going to betray me?


When I trust you, I take a little piece of myself—my stuff, my money, my time, my heart—and I put it in your hands. And then…I’m vulnerable. Then you respond, and I find out whether or not you are trustworthy and dependable. I give you the gift of my trust, and you give me the gift of your faithfulness. When that happens, trust grows deeper. This is key—what it means to be a person. We were made to trust. It goes on forever.

There can be no intimacy without trust. "

1 comment:

Paul Perryman said...

Robb, thanks for posting. Great to hear from you.

The interesting aspect of this view of faith and trust (and I do think relationships work this way) is that although a risk is often involved in relationships, we always test to see if that risk was worth taking. If so, our trust is built. This is a circle of trust that grows over time as offered by the author.

The key difference between this relational faith /trust and the faith of the belief/religious sort is that we test it and if it fails we usually retract and no longer put faith in that person, unless the relationship is maladaptive. With faith surrounding the religious belief the latter part of the relational faith is removed. If we test it and it fails we keep going on with unfounded trust and somehow this requires even greater faith.

The first type of faith I buy into and participate in frequently. I can't say I support the second. I should clarify though that when I blog on the topic of faith, I am focusing in on faith of the religious sort.