Which is more important?

Can you truly love, reverence, or even respect someone you don’t trust? I wasn’t able to freely love God until He proved I could trust Him. Now that I’m certain how faithful He is, I can’t help but love and reverence Him. ❤️

AA.
the scripture plainly tells us 'to Love God with all of our hearts' - like-wise, we are to Trust in The Lord
with All of our hearts -
Love is 'first', and 'trust' is subservient, for if TRUST is BROKEN in human-relationships, Love has to be the master...
as it is written;
(The Kiss of Judas)...

True, OTN but doesn't faith (trust) come first? We have to have faith to even come to God, to walk with and get to know Him, do we not? Then as we learn of Him, we grow to truly know Him intimately and genuinely love Him.

I guess it’s just the way I see it. Still, I see your view as well.

AA. we believe that we are saying the same thing, but just not getting into a lot of 'detail'...

I believe you're right, OTN.

I John 4:8 - He that does not love does not know God, for God is love.

The word “know” in this scripture is the Jewish idiom for loving intimacy between a man and a woman. So this scripture is saying that if we are not intimately familiar with God, if we don’t know who He is or trust Him, we don’t love Him. It makes sense to me that in relationships, we have to know and trust someone before we can honestly love them.

I’ve always heard that fear (or mistrust) is the opposite of love. And I used to feel so guilty when I was a new Christian because I was afraid of God’s wrath and of His severe disapproval of my shortcomings. I obeyed Him not out of love, but out of fear. But it was when I was weak and really screwing up that God came through so faithful and kind, that He blew me away. I began to see how much He loved me, how merciful He was to show me which way to walk, and most of all how faithful He is because He never forsakes me or rebukes me, ever. God proves He loves me by being faithful and I can't help but trust and love Him.

AMEN, Sister...
He is our Wonderful, Steadfast, Example!

I think sacrifice is the most important aspect in a relationship. You have to support one another and give up a lot of your free time - Just as families do for their children and close ones. Jesus sacrificed himself, providing us with the most amazing gift we are never going to live up to.

I don’t feel like I deserve all of the sacrifice my parents gave to me, and I definitely don’t feel I deserve Jesus’s. However, they made sacrifices for me anyway because they wanted the best life and opportunity for me, and I appreciate all they have done to keep me alive. They make me want to dedicate all my time and abilities to them. That’s what Love is.

& dedicate to one another. Dedication is sacrifice.

Spiritual, mental, physical agreement.

To me that's what marriage is supposed to be.



Certainly there will be disagreements, but "can" we agree. Is that our mission in our marriage? That's what I'm looking for personally.

depends on the relationship.

For Wife husband . need commitment. no matter what else occurs. trust can come and go due to humans making mistakes. Respect also is hard to express at times. so when all else fails we need to commit to the relationship whether we feel like it or not

Forgive all the wrongs. and try to do our best

I automatically give people trust. It’s theirs to lose rather than gain.

You're a better man than I, Gunga Din. I have nothing in or of myself to trust in people. I only "automatically" (as you put it) trust God alone. Man can and will fail you because we are imperfect.

In fact, I don't believe Jesus trusts people either. He knows what's in man's heart. Nevertheless, we can still love like Jesus does, because love accepts people as they are. It doesn't mean you can trust them. But you can trust God for them.

Oswald Chambers put it much better than I ever could:

https://utmost.org/

The Teaching of Disillusionment - By Oswald Chambers

Jesus did not commit Himself to them…, for He knew what was in man. —John 2:24-25

"Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly.

Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens— if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone."

In a relationship between spouses, family members, best friends, etc. I believe trust has to be learned, and that by getting to know one another and helping each other to grow and understand each other.

for us, hub and myself, we can't help but to always have HOPE - this is something completely different than 'trust' -
Trust is something each of us apply according to how our lives have unfolded and according to the
discernment that Christ is continually teaching us as we grow...

My successful relationships have been based on reliance on God but also having emotional stability within myself.
My unsuccessful relationships lacked the solid foundation that faith in Jesus provides.

'Honesty' - without which - none of the choices given are truly obtainable to the degree necessary for a good relationship.

What worthwhile thing can be had in any relationship if there is insufficient honesty?

Im thinking trust ie. faith is the most important, because without faith its impossible to please God.

You can be angry and disrespectful at Him at times but He can handle it. You can be incoherent and uncommunicative. You can leave Him or be clingy and legalistic and follow all the rules. God will still be merciful and always there even if you do all these things that would break any other relationship.

. But if you lack trust in Him, i,e faith, it will be impossible to have any kind of relationship. Because God is good, all the time, to lack trust and start thinking He doesnt really care for you is to be unbelieving.

In working relationships, what people rely on when they sign contracts is IN GOOD FAITH. That the employer will do what they promise and pay the worker who will work cos they promise.

If that trust is broken, if its not in good faith, that relationship must end.

It can't work without all of the above.

I selected Communication as the most important in the list..

But my second choice was not in the list and that is Forgiveness.. No human being is perfect.. So in any human to human relationship being able to forgive is essential in forming a long term relationship..

For me, respect is foremost. It’s the line in the sand that inspires effort, patience and self-restraint. It is a necessary component in the development of oneness through the consciousness of ‘we’ and ‘us.’