So, What Are We So Afraid of?
Of what are we so afraid?
A Correction regarding last week’s 52 Week Plan:
I mistakenly said that Adam and Eve ate from the “tree of life” in the garden of Eden, but it was, of course, the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. My mistake became obvious when I read the delivered plan on Saturday, September 5.
Moving on to a new topic…
I have seen and heard so much fear and condemnation based on fear in the conversations around me in the last several months. Lots of distrust going around, isn’t there? Each side – and you know the sides to which I refer – claim the other is stoking fear in its constituents. I attempted to convey recently that in Jesus Christ, we don’t need to live in fear, nor do we need to continually vilify others who disagree with our opinions and convictions. Neither do we need to be afraid of them. I am not naïve to think that there aren’t dangerous philosophies out there, but many of those same philosophies and strategies have been present from antiquity.
What has changed my views over the last few years and calmed me down to no longer act as if I hate those who disagree is the love of God “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”. Whether in politics, religion, moral issues in the community, or disagreements inside the family; we can, actually, disagree agreeably. I didn’t say it is easy to pull off, but it is possible.
1. Walk in the Light of Jesus: Jesus Christ Who stood before the Sanhedrin, Jewish religious leadership, and took the lies they told in the same calm way He responded to Pontius Pilate just before the crucifixion. Jesus at times gave a calm, truthful, strong answer and at other times gave no answer, at all, but remained silent before His accusers. (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 26:63-64). But He didn’t always stay quiet. He just stayed in control. I think He loved His accusers.
2. Walk in the Light of God’s Word: Proverbs 15:1 and James 1:19 give us clear direction for being able to stay calm and deliver the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) under the control of the Holy Spirit. We know what happens when we don’t. What an amazing thing it is to watch people speak truth in love – not calmly tell lies or brutally tell the truth, but speak truth in love. Using appropriate delivery of truth in a way that doesn’t detract from that truth is an amazing phenomenon. Can you describe a time when someone you know commanded the situation with truth in love when others were out of control? I can think of a few. Let’s try staying under Holy Spirit control at home, at work, in a discussion with someone who opposes what we think or believe.
3. Walk in the Light of Real Fellowship: I recently sat at a table in a local Mexican restaurant with 3 single friends. We noted how over the last 2 years we’d come to know each other pretty well, love each other, speak some hard truths to each other, and grown as “iron sharpens iron” in our friendship and fellowship. Whom do you have in your life with whom you can and do speak the truth in love?
What if Adam had done that with Even long ago in the Garden of Eden, when she brought the fruit to him (fruit from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”)?
Maybe it would have sounded something like this:
“Eve, I know that fruit looks so good, smells delicious, and may in fact make us wise; but our God deserves to be obeyed. So, I am sorry that you have already eaten of this fruit, but I can’t do it. God loves us and has shown it so clearly.”
What if Peter had spoken the truth in love to his accusers as Jesus was being tried?
Peter could have said in public what he had declared in private conversation with Jesus, “Young lady, I know I sound Galilean because I am. I know I look like the one you saw with Jesus before because I am that person. So, you are right. I am with Jesus. He loves me so much that I choose to love Him back by standing with Him even when it gets scary. I am scared now but not enough to betray my Lord.’
Does Jesus change over time? No. Hebrews 13:8
Is He as worthy of worship and devotion today as He was in the Garden with Adam and Eve or in Jerusalem just hours before His crucifixion? Yes. Hebrews 13:8
So what are we to do? We are to gain confidence in this life through the sure knowledge that we are loved now, tomorrow, and throughout eternity. He IS worthy! Let’s give Jesus His due by obeying Him and loving Him in return for His lavish love for us. 1 John 3:1
What part of our world could we change if we “grow up into Christ” and “learn to speak the truth in love”? Family? Work environment? Church? Community?
You get the idea!