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Trust, Freely Given

You know life is good when you mess up and people say, “It’s okay, I love you.”

Jeremy Affeldt
Aug 22, 2017 · 3 min read

I have learned so much about trust. It took some hard work and dedication, but it was worth all the effort and then some. Not only have I learned about the grace that comes from trusting others in who they are, I’ve learned about the grace that comes from trusting others with who I am.

I am not talking about the person that I intend to be, always feeling great and never having a problem or a bad day. No, I’m talking about trusting others with the real, imperfect person that I actually am. The real me.

This has been a lesson in freedom! It’s very freeing to be able to be my true self, knowing that I won’t be condemned for it. Now I can mess up and not feel ashamed.

Imagine it! I mess up, but I don’t live in shame. I live in trust.


I tell those closest to me, “I’m going to trust you. I’m going to tell you right now, I am not perfect. I am a Christian man who will fail. I will mess up. I will have a bad day. Maybe I will cuss every now and then. I might snap at somebody, or show some frustration.”

Then, when that bad day comes around or I show some frustration, my family and friends say, “I know. But I don’t think of you differently. I know you messed up. It happens. But it doesn’t change my opinion of you. I love you.”

That’s what trust brings to relationships.


Jesus is the reason that I can trust people with my true, imperfect self. Jesus says, “I died for you. I took all of that shame away when I died. I did it for you.”

And then He resurrected! The Bible says that because of Jesus’s death and resurrection, we are made holy and righteous. Now we are living! Not in fear and shame, but really living. We are made holy and righteous.

We are free!


With this understanding, my wife and I can look to each other in trust. She looks at me and I look at her, and we see each other just as God sees us: righteous and holy. It’s the same with my close friends. It’s the same with my children.

I’m imperfect. I mess up. But there is now no condemnation. In trust with God and my loved ones, I am allowed to mess up. No one loves me less when I do.

As long as we have flesh on our bones, we are going to mess up, but we have been saved from judgment and condemnation. We are sanctified. We are saints that sin! And those who love us know our hearts. They know that we are not our sins. We are God’s children.

When you live in your identity as God’s very own creation, His very own precious child, then you understand how He sees you. He looks at you and sees you just as He made you. You will mess up, and He will say, “It’s okay, I love you.”

I am the author of To Stir a Movement: Life, Justice, and Major League Baseball (2013), and my second book is in the works. Visit my Huffington Post page here. I blog here. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter: @JeremyAffeldt.

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Jeremy Affeldt

Written by

Athlete, Humanitarian, Author. Public Speaker, Family Man, Believer. Three time World Series Champion with the San Francisco Giants.

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