Like many of you, I was very sad to hear about the death of Dr Michael Mosley upon a family holiday to the Greek island of Symi. His ability to express complicated science and medical facts in a simple way to the ordinary person with such humour and enthusiasm made him very endearing and likeable. The fact that he was so willing to put his own body on the line, and make himself part of the story in order that others could see the benefits of intermittent fasting, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or cold showers – in order that he might reverse his own type 2 diabetes, lose weight and adopt a healthier life style – encouraged many others to do the same. All this combined with his willingness to explain the virtues of medical science by swallowing tapeworms, film food passing through his body, and stick a needle through his hand, won him huge respect and many friends. He was a very sincere and genuine man which many people liked and could relate to – he was therefore greatly trusted!

Ironically, the news about Michael’s death came out about the same time as the National Centre for Social Research published its latest report on ‘The impact of the 2019-24 government on political trust and confidence’. One of its authors, the highly respected Sir John Curtice, reported that public trust and confidence in government has fallen to a record low, with 45% of the public stating that they would ‘almost never’ trust British governments of any party to place the needs of the nation above the interests of their own political party, and perhaps even more significantly 58% would ‘almost never’ trust politicians of any party in Britain to tell the truth when they are in a tight corner.

The difference between these two stories is obvious. Dr Michael Mosley was trusted by most people because with kindness, he clearly ‘walked the walk’ and told the truth as he saw and understood it for the benefit of ordinary people, whereas the perception is that most politicians simply do not!

Christians will be aware that Jesus also spoke about trust, exhorting his disciples to, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14.1-3). Of course the place that Jesus was speaking about was a place ‘at his side’ in the Kingdom of God, a kingdom that would, to quote The Lord’s Prayer, exist ‘on earth as it does in heaven’. In other words, a future heavenly realm (that we call heaven) that also makes a difference to people’s everyday lives in the present. A future place where all evil, sin and wrongdoing has been dealt with and vanquished once and for all, and where the people of ‘faith and trust’ can live in the love, peace and harmony of God. But of course, this could all count for nothing if it were based upon simple words, but it wasn’t – for Jesus literally not only ‘talked the talk’ but ‘walked the walk’ – all the way to the cross. His loving  and sacrificial action backed up everything that he said and our Biblical understanding that he was indeed the ‘Saviour of the World’, atoning for our sin and offering us all forgiveness and a healthy new life when we put our faith and trust in him. If words backed up by action are the criteria for our trust today, then I’m confident that we have no better person or candidate than Jesus and I hope you think the same!