Fear Not




Fear is the anticipation of something harmful. It’s a yellow traffic light. It’s blue and red blinking lights, with sirens blaring.

Fear is an “influencer”. It gains followers and it adds friends. It speaks to you with words that are relatable- because those words always come from your past.

Fear is the experience that you know can happen, because it has happened, even if it hasn’t happened to you, yet.

The words “fear not” are used at least eighty times in the Bible.

Humanity has always known fear. Humanity will always know fear.

There will always be somethings that hurt us. There will always be somethings that can go wrong. Storms come, but money does not. Health falters, and families can fall apart.

Humanity has always known fear. Humanity will always know fear-unless humanity comes to accept God’s promises.

We are transient beings, too often, putting trust in transient things. God is eternal and He says fear not.

Isaiah 43:1 “Don’t fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine.”

Isaiah 46: 4 “I am your God and I will take care of you...”

When I was a child I lived in, what was called, a “triple decker.” It’s something that sounds like a large hamburger, but was more like a family styled parfait. The home was a three floored tenement. A place with my grandparents living below, my cousins living above, and me and my family living in between.

My grandparents owned the container that held us.

My family was the ice cream in the parfait. There could be melt downs. Our flavor was rocky road. The topping could be whipped.

(...and, yes, it could be nuts.)

Yet, life was still sweet.

I felt no fear. My grandparents were the landlords. No new renter could oust me. No one could steal away my place in the family home. I would always be the child of my father. Being that child would always be enough.

God is the good Father. Being His child will always be enough.

Fear lies. Fear is a thief that steals our time, our joy, and our faith. Our faith that good can happen. Our faith that God is there.

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. “

God is always caring. God is always listening. God is always loving. God is always there.

God is perfect love. John 4:18 “Perfect love casts out fear.”

God is the giver of life, a life without fear.

Deuteronomy 31: 6 “Be Strong and Courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you”

Turn away from fear. Turn toward God. Trust in Him. He is there. He will always be there.

//

Come join us at Springhead UMC!

Each Sunday:

Bible Study at 9:30 a.m. Worship at 11:00 a.m.

Pastor Linda Johnson presiding.

Little Church. Big Love!











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You are beautiful

In the things we choose to surround us.   In things that are outside of us; we often seek the beautiful.  We value it. We cherish it. We try to emulate it.  In beauty we see all things good. Imperfection is a loss of opportunity. “It” could have been better. We see imperfection as a mistake. She/He should have done this or that instead. We see imperfection as a failure. It is wrong. It has no value. Let’s throw it out. We see the imperfections in ourselves the same way. ...but God made us in his image. (Genesis 1:27) “ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” ... and like the psalmist we can say (Psalm 139: 18 ) “ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” We struggle to find the good in what we call our imperfections. We can cherish our objects far more than ourselves. We can cherish our cell phones more than ourselves! When we do, so often then, our d...
Read more

Living in the world. Living as Christians.

How does one live, fully, in the world as a Christian? We are a pilgrim people. We are constantly searching for perfection, for goodness and love. We are constantly striving to build those things within us. We are constantly moving toward our ultimate home. Our home in Him. The one true God. He who waits for us at the end of all our journey's. I’ve always thought that a road trip should make plenty of stops. Eat here. Take a photo there. When in Rome do as the Romans do. ...but, historically, Rome isn’t the best place to emulate. ...and the food we tend to eat, while on the road, isn’t always that good for us. ...and which memories, from along the way, should we really try to keep? We find ourselves in places. Sometimes we’re in those places because of the one’s we’ve been in before.  We don’t get anywhere from standing still. We must keep moving. As we do we must consider where we are and where it is we’ve been. Being a Christian, in the world, ...
Read more