Are you a cheerleader or a referee?  There are two types of people in the world

Referees  – whatever you do these people find the mistakes.  Cheerleaders – these people are the ones that believe in you regardless of what we do.  Your parents are the first cheerleaders in your life.  I am sure that some people did not have this kink of parents – I sure did.  Your closes friends are cheerleaders.  They might not always like what you do but ultimately they are on your side.  They got your back.  I think your wife is definitely your cheerleader.  She is on your sideline always.  She may say that was a stupid thing you did but I love you and trust you.

I was thinking about what these cheerleaders do in my life.  I think it all boils down to a trust relationship between you and them.  When you were younger your dad says that he is going to pick you up after school, but he is late and your friends say I bet he is not coming.  You say he will be here in a few minutes because you trust him.  We build all sorts of trust relationship during our life.  Sometimes we are disappointed when someone breaks that trust issue.  I am sure that God feels the same way when we break that trust relationship.

In the Garden of Eden man and God’s split was about trust.  Man decided that God was not telling him the whole story and that he had another agenda.  So man decided not to trust him and do what he wanted to do.  Big mistake, God has been trying to repair that mistrust since that split.  He finally sent his Son to bridge the gap and form a trust relationship with Him.

God does not want to be a referee.  He wants to be your cheerleader and he wants you to be His.  I know that sounds a bit feminine but I am sure that is what He wants.  He wants you to tell the world that you have a relationship with Him that is based on faith and trust.

It does not matter what you believe about God if you want to be damned.  He believes in you.

If you are trying to figure this whole thing about religion out it’s real simple. Faith is built by trust.  Sermons come in all shapes and sizes by your Preacher. But if you listen closely, you’ll hear God saying the same thing in most sermons – trust me. That’s not to say that the message in the Bible is shallow and simplistic. Rather, in all the ways that you could respond to God, the most important thing that God is asking you to do is to trust him. When things are going well, it doesn’t require a lot of faith to trust God. But when life turns messy, is your faith leading you to depend on God, or do you put your trust in something else?

The most religious people during Jesus’ times were the Pharoses and they missed it.  They knew the 600+ laws and all the scrolls but they did not have a relationship built on trust with God.  Their relationship was that of a referee.  They were looking for all the mistakes that the people were making and missing the new covenant – Jesus.  When you are a referee you are arrogant and self-centered.  You have an agenda of keeping the rules of the game of life.  If you are a cheerleader you will be yelling from the sideline and field of the game of life that you trust God with all of your life.  And that my friend’s is what life is all about; purpose driven life, having a relationship with God based on trust in His word.

- Steve Rusk

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