The Power of One Act of Love
A tour guide who was showing a group of people through a steel mill astonished his listeners by saying that they could painlessly wipe their finger briefly through a small stream of glowing molten steel poured from a ladle, but only if the finger was first wet and dusted. He then asked a man in the group whether he believed that remarkable assertion, and the man affirmed that he did believe it on the basis of the guide’s knowledge. Yet when the guide invited him to try it, he nervously demurred.
The guide then asked the man’s wife if she would try it. With some misgivings, she did bravely pass her dusted finger through the molten steel, and was amazed to find that it was not at all painful. The guide then made a pointed observation to the husband: “You had faith in my words--you believed what I said, but your wife had more than faith. She had trust, because she acted on her belief.”
When I heard about this incident, I found it reminiscent of the remark of Jesus in Matthew 7 and Luke 6, where he reproached those who call him Lord, but do not do what he says; they end up, he said, in a disastrous spiritual collapse for lack of a strong foundation. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (Mt 7:26, emphasis mine). They truly have faith enough to hear and believe in God’s revelation, but are too cowardly to practice it.
In counterpoint to such “unfaithful faithful,” he says, “I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.” He then describes such stalwart Christians as those who have a deep rock-based foundation for their spiritual lives. Their enriched faith in God’s Word, with its laws and promises, has prepared them for the most ferocious storms of life. They are well able to withstand every negative vicissitude of life. These are the Christians whose faith has blossomed into the virtue of trust.
A wife who really trusts her husband trusts that he is telling the truth (that is, trusts his word) when he says that he is late for dinner because he had to work late. She is certain that he was not bedding his secretary at the local motel. If a wife knows that her husband is trustworthy, she accepts his words as trustworthy. If God is truly trustworthy--and who would deny it?--then his Word must be trustworthy.
The psalmist was unwavering in his trust of God’s Word, because he trusted God who gave that Word. “I trust in your word . . . I have put my hope in your laws” (Ps 119:42-43). He bemoaned his Israelite ancestors, who ”believed the Lord’s promises . . . but they soon forgot what he had done” (Ps 106:12). This lack of sustained trust in God’s Word brought his wrath down upon his chosen people, as he told his “word transmitter,” the prophet Ezekiel. The specific reason for their punishment? “My people . . . listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice” (Ez 33:31).
An interesting phenomenon is that of the strong conviction that envelopes souls who ponder God’s Word devoutly. They find insuperable strength, for instance, in mulling over the words of Nahum 1:7: “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,” or the words that Peter quotes from Psalm 55:22: “Cast all your anxiety on him, for he cares for you” (1 Pt 5:7). Literally hundreds of Scripture passages offer a means of putting starch into your trust in God when it grows flaccid. In Scripture, God speaks to us. To speak back to him in a trust dialogue, try the cordial phrase premiered by the popular Mercy of God movement: “Jesus, I trust in you!”
In his parable of the sower and the seed, Jesus speaks of the faltering trust in his Word as exemplified by “the man who hears the word and . . . receives it with joy. But since he has no root . . . he quickly falls away” (Mt 13:21, emphasis mine). Yet in his praise of a faithful and “faith-full” Christian, Jesus pithily describes sustained trust in his words as an identifying characteristic of every true Christian: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (Jn 8:31, emphasis mine).
If we truly trust God’s Word, we will pass the most rigorous “trust test,” like the woman in the steel mill tour group, and we will assiduously incorporate his words into our daily behavior. Take, for instance, his words in Luke 6:27-28: “I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. . . . Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you [by outright theft], do not demand it back.” It’s hard to find a Christian who not only believes, but also lives out existentially such divine imperatives that beckon us to partake of his proffered rivers of grace. It requires consummate trust to truly live God’s Word, but those who do so have found a splendid shortcut to holiness.
This excerpt is from the book Pathways of Trust, by John H. Hampsch,C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.