The Trust Protocol By Mac RichardSample

Day Five: Living Out Integrity in the Real World

Scripture: Matthew 10:16

What if your day-to-day world, which can appear to be an impediment to practicing the Trust Protocol, is actually an advantage that you could leverage for God’s glory and your good? 

Let’s say that your workplace is just too “real-world” for the Trust Protocol. The people you work with are guarded, skeptical, and driven by self-interest—not because they’re bad people but because they’ve seen that kind of behavior get rewarded.

If that’s the case, how much more would someone stand out who volunteers to clean the break room without being asked? How much more would someone stand out who helps her assistant close out the quarterly reports, while also managing a high-performing division? 

Jesus anticipated our real-world objections to the kind of life that he calls us to live. When he sends the disciples out on a short-term mission project, he tells them to be as “shrewd as snakes” and as “innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).

Sometimes, we mistakenly think that the real worldliness of this world is news to God, as if he doesn’t get how harsh and depraved and cold this world can be. But it was God’s understanding of the brokenness of this world that drove him to abandon heaven and inhabit earth. It was the brokenness of this world that nailed him to a cross when he had never committed a sin. 

Jesus commands us to be wise precisely because he knows all too well just how broken and dog-eat-dog this world really is. He promises us we will suffer. We’ll be arrested, turned over for questioning, abused, betrayed, punished, ridiculed, and mocked. 

It’s really a misguided, presumptuous arrogance to think that we have an insight into how the world operates that is superior to the One who created the world in the first place. But Jesus doesn’t leave it there. He tells us not to worry about what we’ll say or how we’ll say it. The Spirit of God will speak through us! 

Playing our part in the Trust Protocol transcends our comfort, our wisdom, and our plans. It is about trusting that God is God, that he is all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-present, and collaborating with him in his redemptive work. 

What difference does it make in your daily choices to know that God understands how challenging it is to live well in this world?