WE ALL WANT to know that we have a safety net…
I don’t mind taking certain risks — I just want to know that, if I fall, there’s a net. When I was a young boy, I lied about my age and got a job as a construction worker. I was a boilermaker. We built water tanks, housings for nuclear reactors, and other large steel structures. I was terribly afraid of heights, but I was willing to work several hundred feet in the air if there was at least a safety rope. Such is life. We will climb to the greatest heights if we know there is a net waiting below to catch us!
Walking in love is very threatening territory. It is like climbing an extremely high structure. Telling you how I really feel, expressing how your actions are really affecting me, owning my own weaknesses, giving you my heart fully — that is very risky business. The degree of honesty and vulnerability that is required for this kind of relationship is far beyond what most are willing to risk…unless they have a safety net.
This safety net is the degree of trust I have for you. I must know it is safe for me to give you this much of my life before I am willing to take the plunge. On the other hand, most of us expect our mates to blindly leap into our arms. They should know that we love them, and they should just trust us!
Trust, however, is never given; it is earned. The person who gives unearned trust will be hurt repeatedly. Of course, we must always be willing to trust. Agape-love should not look for reasons to withhold trust. But we should trust only to the level that someone has proven trustworthiness. Even God doesn’t ask us to trust beyond the level of love He has proven. Dr. James B. Richards, “The Safety Net,” We Still Kiss, 112-113
“As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” Psalm 18:30
Mike Benson