Sunday we washed cars for the Vineyard of Wheeling as part of Servefest 2011. It was a very different kind of car wash as cost of the car wash was ours and not the owner. The owners would be given a one dollar bill with thanks from the Vineyard volunteers when we finished cleaning the car. I have done car washes for my high school club, Civitan, and for youth projects for churches, but never one in which I paid someone to wash their cars. Then I began to think of the American dollar and came across four simple words which have come to mean much to any Christian: "In God we trust." This motto has been used since I was born and has met challenges from those who have disagreed with its placement. President Theodore Roosevelt felt it was sacrilegious to put God's name on money while others have disagreed believing government is establishing a belief in God. Do four words constitute an establishment of God or a faith in God?
When Jesus taught the disciples to pray he showed the difference of Yahweh from other gods in that He was Holy. He alone is uniquely qualified to receive our prayers because of this holiness and he alone can be trusted. He cannot change his mind or act any other way than holy. He cannot do anything which is not right or for our best. So when we pray for our daily bread we are trusting in his provision and for our health. In the times of the Bible a person earned the money for the next day's purchase and needed to be healthy to work. When we ask Him to forgive we are first trusting that he alone has the ability to remove the stain of sin. We realize this forgiveness is in proportion to the way we forgive others and he alone can give us the ability to forgive.
So then, those four words define the trust a believer has in God. He is trust-worthy in a world were men and governments have fallen short of trust. When we gave them a dollar it was a simple gesture with a great message to others: In God you can trust for all your needs because in yourself you can do nothing.
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