Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

As wonderful as that truth sounds, a deep level of trust isn’t produced by just hearing the truth through others. It is the fruit of getting to know Jesus and His love for you, personally for yourself. I can’t have a healthy marriage based only on what others tell me about my wife, Sheila. I have to know her for myself, and that leads me to invest myself in certain ways. It requires effort on my part to see her, hear her, and be with her in ways that advance my understanding of her. It is very purposeful and intentional on my end. It will also require me to get over myself at times so I can hear and see what is really going on and what she is really trying to say or do.

It is not that she established some difficult condition in order for me to be able to know her. It is me being very purposeful and intentional on my end to get to know her. She is not making me earn it. It is just how things work. It’s how we, as human beings, experience growth. I am not trying to earn anything from her. I am simply enjoying the journey of continually getting to know her and growing together in life. That cannot happen as a one-sided deal.  It can’t be that she is the only one invested.

I believe this is the understanding Paul was speaking from when he said,

Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet

indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

If I refuse to invest by faith in ways that lead me to greater discoveries of Jesus, I am being one-sided towards Jesus. Then, if He doesn’t meet my expectations of what I want Him to do for me, I may go away offended and claim that He or others have misled me concerning Him. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it is a common occurrence in many people's lives. Meanwhile, Scripture clearly testifies that God cannot lie. That means He is reliable and that His promises are sure. However, getting to the level of trust that takes Him at His word based on knowing His character is not easy, like snapping one’s fingers. That kind of trust comes from knowing Him and becoming familiar with His character and nature.  Are you getting to know Him more and more?