Many people today are living lives driven by fear. The world is a fearful place but a fear driven life is an unreasonable life. In Jesus there is reason and an end to fear for all who take the time to listen and learn of Him.
The world seems to have gone mad and there is much that causes the heart to be fearful. Even believers are subject to the anxieties of life and many have concern about the future for their children and grandchildren. Greed and corruption on the part of our leaders and the people have placed the prosperity and liberty that we have known as Americans on a course that appears to end in destruction. We are also surrounded by violence, immorality, and human cruelty. Many people plagued by personal problems with family, health, work, and any number of concerns find themselves living a life driven by fear. In Jesus there is no fear but only the perfect love that casts away all fear. Believers, who turn to Him when afraid, find strength to endure life in a fear driven world.
Modern life is hectic and the full force of its pressure bears down on us most of the time. There is also a great deal to distract us. Through technology, we are hyper-connected to the world and barely left with any time to think even one thought of our own. Caught up in the rushing stream of life, the fear that drives the world, also takes hold of us. It is possible, even for a believer, to find one’s self drowning in a sea of overwhelming anxiety and fear. Jesus lives in the hearts and minds of believers through the power of the Holy Spirit and we are never alone and truly, have no reason to fear. However, if we aren’t mindful to reach for Him and pull ourselves out of the mania that surrounds us, our lives will be driven by fear just as it drives the world in general. A fear driven life isn’t fully life but instead, life governed by death. If a believer lives as the world lives,in fear, that believer’s life won’t count for Christ.
There is only one way to free one’s self from the fear of death and live a life that is abundant life. Jesus is the only one who offers eternal life and all that one has to do to receive that gift is believe in Jesus. Once out from under death’s governance, which entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned against God, there is no reason to fear. It isn’t reasonable for a believer to fear; but many of us get caught up in the world around us and begin to live, unreasonably, according to the fear of death that rules over unbelievers. When we are too busy to sit, listen, and learn of and from Jesus the vacuum fills with the madness that surrounds us and our present condition becomes worse than that of an unbeliever. In each believer, is the light of the world, Jesus and when we give that place to fear, the light in us becomes darkness. Fear serves as a bushel basket placed over the light that we are to shine into a darkened world. When believers hide that light, the darkness is overwhelming.
Every believer lives inside a body made of flesh and blood that is very frail. Even though we who are in Christ have been reborn in spirit and can never die, our bodies are still subject to death. It is natural to fear what threatens the life of our body. It isn’t good to simply ignore our fear and try by our own might to overcome it. The better thing to do is to acknowledge that fear and take it to Jesus in prayer. As we pray it is good to listen and learn of Jesus by reading God’s word as the Holy Spirit applies its truth to our situation. It is also a good thing to turn to other believers for when we gather together in Jesus’ name, He is there also. By these measures, which take time that we must take from something else, the fear that threatened to darken the light within us is also, turned to light.
It is a good thing to be busy and involved with those around us. No unbeliever will ever come to Jesus if believers continually cloister themselves together in exclusion of others. We are to walk through the valley of the shadow of death without fear. We are to live our lives in such a way as to make Jesus visible to others who are without hope, governed by death, and have reason to be afraid. Not all will come to Jesus and we should not expect it or demand it and it should not deter us from living in the world even though, we are not of it. Those whom the Father has given to Jesus will recognize Him and come to Him. The shadow of death will hover over the earth until we reach the eternal state when Jesus who has conquered sin and death, will fully vanquish them, and sin and death will die. Only life will remain and believers will no longer live in frail bodies subject to death. There will be no remembrance of fear and the madness it causes.
Child of God, adopted in Christ Jesus and made heir of the King, are you fearful today? Then take time, sit, listen, and learn of Jesus and return to a reasonable state of mind. Be as Mary and spend time at your Saviour’s feet. Let the light that is Jesus within you shine as the shadow of death, that is attempting to hide that light, scurries away. Give your fear to Jesus, know His perfect love, and fear no more.
