Trust vs. Respect
The dictionary defines trust as ; a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
Respect is defined as a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
The question though is, how can you have this deep admiration for that person if you don’t trust them??
The struggle of really just showing them a level of respect is hard because the definition is saying, they have to have some abilities, qualities or achievements for you to extend some kind of respect to them.
For example:
I for one struggled with showing my husband respect in public or anywhere for that matter because of being his wife and all the issues I had with him behind close doors. I had a truck load of expectations, that I felt he didn’t satisfy so I was so disappointed and seized every moment I had a chance to disgrace him or talk down about him.
See my friend it’s was as if I was on a mission to tear him down and destroy him. I assassinated his character every moment I could. I felt very inferior though because he always avoided me in public.
My slip was hanging, and little did I know I wasn’t just hurting Him but I was hurting myself.
Remember the scripture : Mark 10:8, which talks about the two shall become one??
When you disrespect your partner you are disrespecting yourselves.
It’s a tough pill to swallow I know, and you might think, this is asking too much but it’s not.
The scripture says in Proverbs 3:5–6
Trust in the Lord(A) with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
. and he will make your paths(B) straight.[a](C)
This is the only way you can be able to show respect to man, especially if they have broken the ability for you to trust them is by trusting the Lord.
As a matter of fact we need to trust a man through God and not the other way around.
When we lean onto our own understanding that’s when we begin to have ridiculous expectations, and we tend to have screwed up understanding of our situation should look like.
Leaning unto our own understanding about how marriage should look like and be like will cause it to fail or it will cause our partner to fail us or we will fail them..
Proverbs 26:12 states
Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Therefore, trust in man through the eyes of God, this way you can show them respect. Most importantly your trust in God should be the reason why you show that person a respect because the word says, Love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12: 33).
Show respect even when it’s not earned or they don’t have a good track record.
Allow the Lord to teach you how to show respect to that person that have hurt you so badly.
May God give you the grace as you navigate this season and seasons to come in that situation.
The word says in 2 Corinthians 12:9–11 Gods grace is sufficient for us for our strengths made perfect in our weakness.
Also in Isaiah 40:31 the word says :
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
