Commitment To Trust

INTRO. - ILL. - Two partners from a small law firm were having lunch when suddenly one of them looked alarmed. He announced, "I have to go back to the office right away! I forgot to lock the safe!"

"What are you worried about?" asked the other lawyer. "We’re both here."

Do lawyers trust lawyers? Does anyone trust a lawyer? Can you trust anyone these days? If not, we’re all in deep trouble. Trust is a real problem in our society.

ILL. - I have watched with some interest the TV reality show, “Survivors.” Every week they have a different contest to see who will win immunity and keep them from getting kicked off the show. The survivor contestants talk to one another in small groups, trying to gain support from one another. It’s a matter of trusting one another, but the truth is…no one trusts anyone else! Why? Because the last remaining survivor will win a million dollars! And when you’re talking about the possibility of winning money, no one trusts anyone!

In fact, when it comes to money, most people won’t trust anybody. Would you mind loaning me a $1000 bucks? Well, then what about $100? See what I mean?

This is pretty much the way it is in life. It’s a dog eat dog world and it’s every man, woman and child for themselves. This is why many people are not trustworthy. We are self-centered, self-absorbed, etc. We’re out to take care of number one!

ILL. - Here’s another story of distrust, dated Nov. 17, 2005. Calling her actions "a new low," a federal judge today imposed a five-year prison term for a former Shreveport, LA, woman who lied and told people she had an inoperable, malignant brain tumor in order to get thousands of dollars from them.

"You have breaded distrust where there was no distrust before," Judge Maurice Hicks told Tina Larry as he sentenced her in federal court in Shreveport. Larry, he said, "Was trying to create a perpetual money machine. It is, indeed, a new low."

Tina’s ex-husband, former Shreveport police officer Tony Larry, was sentenced along with her and received a three-year, five-month sentence.

The Larry’s, both 38, were both convicted of conspiracy charges earlier this year. She had pleaded guilty earlier to health care fraud and also to filing bogus claims on the city’s dental insurance plans.

The same jury acquitted the Larry’s of charges they conspired to burn their rental home to collect insurance money. That jury also acquitted Tony Larry -- who insisted he knew nothing of his wife’s scheme -- of the fraud charges against him.

Tina Larry cried as she spoke to the judge about leaving her children behind and told of "a lie that snowballed."

"I just got caught up in something I created," she said. "I’m not as smart as you guys have given me credit for. I am sorry to every person I hurt, I feel like a fool and I’m embarrassed. I don’t have a criminal heart. I don’t have a criminal mind."

Afterward, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mignonette Griffin replied, "Well, she’s good. I’ll give her that, your honor."

I DON’T HAVE A CRIMINAL HEART. Well, what kind of a heart and mind do you have, lady? Greed is good to many people and they’ll lie in every conceivable way to get money.

Is there anybody out there we can trust?

ILL. - The famous preacher Dwight L. Moody once said, "Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment. Trust in your friends and they will die and leave you. Trust in money and you may have it taken from you. Trust in your reputation and some slanderous tongue may blast it. But trust in God and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity."

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Ps. 118:8 “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.”

Ps. 146:3 “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.”

ILL. - Don Dwelt of Ozark Christian College was one of my favorite professors and preachers. In fact, his oldest son, Dan, baptized me into Christ about 40 years ago. I never once saw Don falter and fail when it came to the Christian faith. I am sure that he knew when he faltered, but I never saw it in him. I always considered him a man who could be trusted, no matter what. He never once failed me. However, as great as Don was to me or in my eyes, he could save no one. He could only tell people how to be saved.