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Trust is the basis of our life together and our relationship with God. However, our trust, especially that in God, repeatedly becomes the target of the temptations of evil. Already in paradise, the serpent managed to destroy this trust and persuade people that God is withholding something important from them with the tree of knowledge. The result was sin. Ultimately, sin and thus separation only became possible because the trust was no longer there. This process of evil has not changed to this day. Time and again, people’s trust in friendship, marriage, in religious communities, in God is threatened. Not infrequently, quarrels and separation are the result, which in turn, like a devilish spiral, question and destroy trust.

Our trust in God and our life in following Jesus are constantly challenged:
⦁ Is that still my God if He allows my current, difficult life situation?
⦁ Where is the consolation of the Holy Spirit?
⦁ Where should my life lead with Jesus Christ?
⦁ Is there any point in praying at all?
⦁ Will Jesus Christ really come again, and will He actually establish His kingdom?
⦁ How is this supposed to work?

We will not be able to prevent these challenges. We cannot banish these thoughts, at best suppress them, but we can react to them properly. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews refers to a very important aspect. Even if we cannot prevent the challenges to our trust, which are often brought to us from outside, we can still decide for ourselves whether we then give up our trust, i.e., “throw it away”, as the text says, or not. When the liturgical calendar leads us to this passage in the letter to the Hebrews, we can seize the opportunity to make ourselves and our congregations once again aware of what the dangers lie in giving up trust on the one hand and the comfort we can find in holding on to our trust on the other. A life without trust quickly misses its divine purpose. A life without trust puts your future at risk. Where trust is lost, faith in God’s promises is also lost.
A life of faith lives toward the kingdom of God and is rewarded with the comfort of the Holy Spirit. It will find its completion in eternal life.

Finally,
• Anyone who has no trust in their fellow human beings is deluding themselves if they believe they have trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself made it clear again and again that He is to be found in people. “At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” (John 14:20). “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40); or the parable of the Samaritan. It is not for nothing that He commands His disciples to love one another – how can that be possible without trust?
• The reward of trust is not only related to eternity. Here, too, the promise already applies to our earthly life. Jesus shows us a life of trust in God, for example in the Sermon on the Mount, and in particular the Beatitudes say that the reward will not only come in eternity, but immediately, here and now: “Blessed are…” A life of trust enables an intimate, blessed community with each other and with Jesus Christ, here and now. “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” (Acts 2:42).
• As we think about how we can strengthen and secure trust, for disciples of Christ in general and for called workers and ministers in particular, there is a responsibility for the people that Jesus Christ wants to save, in addition to the implications for their own lives. Specifically, we are asked whether our behaviour contributes to creating a culture and atmosphere in our environment, in our congregations and in the Church of Christ, in which people can regain lost trust and strengthen weakened trust.