A recent Gallup poll measured public perceptions of the honesty and ethics of various professions. I was a bit taken aback, not by the profession at the top of the list (Nurses), but one that showed up 6th on the list – Clergy. 34% of those surveyed rated clergy as very high or high in honesty and ethics. 58% ranked clergy as average to very low in the trust category. That’s discouraging but telling. The good news is their ranking is not nearly as low as telemarketers, Members of Congress, and car salespeople, who showed up at the bottom of the list.
Trusting people is vitally important to our spiritual journey, although no one who ever walked on this planet is 100% trustworthy, except Jesus. Trusting God above all others is paramount in our journey.
“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord…. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)
What a beautiful picture depicting the blessing allotted each of us who trust in the Lord. Our leaves stay green, and we produce delicious spiritual fruit.
Finding safe people to partner with, in our Kingdom calling, is challenging but necessary. Besides the primary objective of being Christ followers, others must be trustworthy and accept who we are in Christ.
Although I may be surprised and disappointed that clergy do not top the list, we’re all human. Hurt people, hurt people. We as believers have a greater responsibility to represent Christ in the way He should be represented. That’s a divine calling that we should all take seriously and seek God, in whom we all should trust, to fill the gaps.
And that’s the Memo.
Steve
