Isaiah 26:4 English Standard Version (ESV) Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Do we have trust issues or are we in denial?

Has anyone ever cheated on you? Has anyone broken a promise to you? Has anyone lied to you about important matters? Has anyone taken advantage of you?

I use the singular personal pronoun you because violations are personal. The more often trust has been broken the more we have a tendency to withhold trust. We might even deny trust to some who deserve to be trusted. Such is the case with trusting God.

How does God build trust in us?

He keeps His Word. His promises are yes and Amen. The fact that we have not yet seen all His promises come to fruition does not mean they will not. Understanding those promises in a realistic manner is important and we have covered much of that in the past. If we do not remember them, it is worth the time and effort to do the studies over again. Understanding a promise is just as important as keeping a promise.

For the moment it is a trust building exercise to identify and acknowledge what God has already done in our lives. Have we seen God’s good graces act in our life already. Give credit where credit is due. Are there points of action where it is obvious that God has been involved? God will not hold it against us if we overlook His good gracious acts. God does not hold a grudge.

Begin with those things God has changed in us that were not of our own effort. Have we been healed from addiction of any kind? Has the desire to stop smoking come with trying, as a gift from God? Has our God stopped us from anything that might have caused harm to us or others? Seeing His right hand at work in our lives is important but not always obvious. Have we examined events and seen God at work?

If the answer to any of that is yes, then trust is being built.

1 Corinthians 11:1 English Standard Version (ESV) Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

One might wonder why the title of this is meme in consideration of all the memes in use on social media. Here is why.

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the word “meme” (rhymes with “team”) in his bestselling 1976 book The Selfish Gene. While he had no idea of its future internet-related context, he used the word meme to describe an idea, behavior, or style that rapidly spreads from person to person in a culture. In his book, he likened a meme’s spread to that of a virus. The word meme came from the Greek word mimeme, which means imitated thing. Quote from Lifewire.com

The Greek word in 1 Corinthians 11:1 is mimētēs which speaks to the one that follows, not the one being followed. The interesting intention of memes is the hope that the meme would be circulated as a virus. We might not like the insinuation that Christianity is a virus but what is a virus?

A virus is a living organism which is spread by intimate contact most often by touch or breath.

Consider that Christ is alive in us and as a mimētēs we spread Christ liberally. Paul, not Richard Dawkins, introduced memes to the world.

Paul’s usage didn’t catch on as Dawkins’ version because the Word of God is not sardonic enough for a world that loves to make fun of everything.

I am however intrigued by Dawkins’ book title, The Selfish Gene. I have not read the book but the implication of the title seems to be appropriate to life without Christ. It is our human nature to be selfish.

Meme screams of look at me. Mimētēs screams look at Christ.

Our prayer is that unbelievers see Christ in us and not our flawed humanity.