Click "Agree" with Jesus

Most of us will not agree to something without knowing as many of the details as possible. The older we get, the wiser we get, and often the more suspicious we get. We just don’t trust people as much as our grandparents did. And for good reason. There are more scams and nefarious people out there than ever before. Before we say, “Yes”, we want to know what we are saying “Yes” to.

Except on the internet, or when we are signing the biggest contracts of our lives. I don’t know about you, but I don’t read all of the fine print of the ‘terms of service’ when I open an email account, log into a hotel internet provider, make a payment online, etc. They could have a clause in there that says I give them the rights to take away my firstborn. I doubt it, but they could. I just click ‘agree’. I’m not proud of it. It is just the reality. The same thing happens when we buy a car, or property. I wonder how many people read all of the paperwork associated with buying a house. That is usually the single most important purchase of your life, and most people never read all of the fine print. Often you will have a trusted friend (realtor) who knows what’s up, and that puts your mind at ease that you aren’t signing your life away to the French Foreign Legion.

Why is it that in an age of suspicion and identity theft we will easily ‘agree’ to things about which we are not fully aware of the details? I think there are a few things happening here.

1 – Even though we are cautious about the unknown, we all basically think most people are trustworthy. I think this is good. Who wants to live in a world where you have to vet your pizza delivery guy, or the kid in your Sunday School class? We basically trust humans… even after 6,000 years of evidence that we probably shouldn’t.

2 – We look at the history of the situation. If Google or my bank was trying to scam me, I’m sure I wouldn’t be the first victim. I haven’t heard of a huge scandal, and they faithfully service millions of people, so I should be okay.

3 – We figure the agreement is basically to protect us, and is uniform enough to work in my specific situation.

There are probably other reasons we agree to things without knowing or understanding all of the details. But I think these are accurate.

Now… if we will say, “Yes” to temporal contracts made by humans, who basically have a very sketchy history overall, why would we not as quickly say, “Yes” to Jesus? It seems like people spend more time praying over the will of God and whether or not they should follow it than they do over which person to marry, which car to buy, or which cable service provider they will go with… even though they will complain about the service for years to come. We often seem to have more trust issues with God than anyone else on the planet. And that is ridiculous.

Scripture is full of references to God’s trustworthiness. Here are a few:

“Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.” – Proverbs 30:5

“Our fathers trusted in You [God]; they trusted, and You rescued them. They cried to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disgraced.” – Psalm 22:4-5

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5

These verses and many others speak directly to the reasons I mentioned earlier regarding our penchant to quickly agree with something we don’t totally understand.

1 - We basically trust God because we were made to do so, and in our new life it is natural.

2 - His history of faithfulness (with us and others) reassures us.

3 - We actually believe that He is leading us in protection as He does with all who seek Him.

God will lead you into dark places, or at least places that are dark to you. Even the darkness is light to Him. He will ask you to exhibit faith, but He has never failed you. Say, “Yes” to God… every time. You will never be disappointed in Him. Never. He will not scam you. He will not throw something in that makes you fail. He is trustworthy. Don’t call in a lawyer to check out God’s small print. If you do, you will find love. But trust Him and love will find you.

One of the Bible writers put it this way… “It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in man.” (Psalm 118:8) So I think it is good to be wise in the things of earth. I think it is okay to pay your cellphone bill online without reading every clause of the payment processing agreement. But when it comes to the Lord, just say, “Yes”. Say it quickly. Say it often.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]

Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.

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