“Even if God does not help us, we will still not worship the statue that my lord has set up,” was the reply of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, showing there was not a shred of suspicion toward God. Even if God did not help, they still refused to worship the statue. This is called unconditional submission—obedience without conditions. Therefore, in our relationship with God, there must be no suspicion at all, even when life worsens, and it seems as if God does not care or has vanished.
John 2:23–24 says, “Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus Himself would not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”
Jesus knew the motives behind their belief. In His earthly life, Jesus studied God’s Word and understood the condition of the human heart. Those people believed, but Jesus did not accept their belief. Have we ever asked whether he truly accepts our belief in God? Is our belief the right kind of belief? The word “believe” has become easy to say and to profess, and many Christians assume their belief already satisfies the requirement for salvation. It turns out there is something behind that word that God must judge.
Because ultimately, in Christianity, God desires an exclusive relationship between us personally and Himself. The way to that relationship is Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, the world’s sin—from Adam’s sin to the last person—has been borne by Jesus. By his death on the cross, he took on the sins of the world, as John says, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” With this atonement comes judgment. People outside Christianity can also be judged, and those who love their neighbors as themselves may be permitted to enter the coming world as members of that society.
In this relationship, the Father desires there be no deceit but full trust that God is good, perfect, wise, and blameless. And everyone must experience this personally. The problem arises when people fail to understand the meaning and purpose of the salvation Jesus brings. They do not understand that Jesus brings freedom from sin, not freedom from foreign domination or political liberation. The Father desires that salvation bring us into an exclusive relationship with Him, where we trust God fully without doubting Him.
In daily life, we all have the experience of being unable to entrust ourselves to or befriend someone because that person is untrustworthy. Likewise, if we trust Jesus as Lord and Savior, we must lead a spiritual life in which we can be trusted by God, so that a genuine relationship can be built between Him and us. Remember what is written in the Book of James: “That is why he was called a friend of God,” referring to when Abraham offered his son Isaac. Abraham passed that test; there was no suspicion toward God in what he did. That is why he is called a friend of God.
If someone is not truly willing to live a holy life and renounce love of the world, then their faith is not yet acceptable. Salvation must bring us into a relationship with the Father as Father and child, in which there is no suspicion of Him at all. How can that happen? We must have direct experiences in which God leads us into miraculous, difficult, and seemingly irrational circumstances, yet we continue to trust Him. With this quality of faith, our loyalty and obedience will be genuine.