Faith and Fear

What are you afraid of? Heights? Darkness? Falling? I am afraid of all three. Sometimes I think to myself, "is it a good thing to be afraid? Should I be fearless?" These are the things I was thinking on the recent family vacation.  On our way to Utah, for our cousins wedding, I thought about everything we were going to do. Since it was a three day wedding adventure, there was going to be hiking, climbing, and repelling through the rocky dessert.  I was so scared. Scared of what? The 150ft repel I was going to have to face on the five mile hike through sand!? Yes. Fear had riddled my mind. Right as I started down that repel, something came to me, a part of the bible I had read. "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Is 41:10  I remembered then, God is always watching out for us. I had no reason to be afraid, other than I was one hundred and fifty feet in the air, hanging by a rope and harness! 

Another time when I felt fear, was when I was out evangelizing on the streets. Sharing my faith, it was so scary, I was over come with fear. I should not have been afraid, I had the Spirit of the Living God inside of me. Yet, I was afraid. Or was I ashamed? In Romans 1:16 it says "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of salvation to everyone that believe" There was no reason for me to be afraid or ashamed in that moment. After I started talking to people about my faith, the more bold I became. It was the power of Jesus Christ working through me, to overcome my fear. 

     Today, on the way home from Utah, I was reading a book by Michael Patton "Increase my faith" (wonderful book) and it dawned on me. Fear is the absence of faith. When repelling down the rock, I had no faith in the rope, and harness, therefore I was afraid.  As Christians we boast about how much faith we have, but we are still afraid of talking to the person next to us in line about our faith. 

In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Eph 3:12

We are called to be bold and have confidence in our faith, but yet we have not either.  Often Christians just accept the faith they have and don't realize their faith can get any bigger, I know I am guilty of this. We must grow in our faith DAILY, because we are Christians, it is important for us to grow. Be bold in your faith, once we are bold in our faith we can have no fear.  

Lead me to Your truth, and I will follow you with my whole life.

 Lead me to the truth and I, will follow you with my whole life.  

Mumford and sons. 

These lyrics, have made me think for the past few weeks. This, not being a Christian song, is so deep in the meaning of its words. "Lead me to the truth" as a Christian this is something I ask God daily. But all too often I forget to seek his truth in every aspect of my life. I fall short with every choice I make, that doesn't reflect Gods glory.  Without His truth, I would be lost.  The second part "I will follow you with my whole life"  this part reminds me of how we are to follow Christ with our whole life. How everything we do is suppose to reflect Christ.  

I love how these lyrics go hand in hand. We can not reflect Christ unless, he leads us to his truth.  Now this all sounds so easy. "Just lead me to the truth, and I will follow you with my whole life."  He can't just show me his truth then I will just follow him with my whole life, I am a sinner. I have to practice following Him daily, and I fall so short.  We have to seek out his truth, daily. Not just once a day, but ALL DAY.  

All of that to say this, listen. Listen carefully, you never know who/what/how God is going to speak to you.  

This is Love

Love - a strong positive emotion, regarding affection.  

Is this what love is? Just an emotion? I believe that love is a Being, who comes to live inside of us. The only way we can truly love someone, is through that Being. Without that Being present, love is just, a strong emotion. But that raises the question, who is this Being? Well he has a name, one that for along time could not be mentioned, it is now used freely all over the universe. This name is Jesus. He came to earth in the form of a man, he walked perfectly for the time he was here. He was crucified, and buried, but on the third day he rose again. Why am I bringing this up? This random story of a man who lived 2,000 years ago?! 

Because it is the story of true, unconditional, love. When Jesus came to earth, he was sent by the Father, To die. Why? Because the Father loved us, so much that he was willing to send his Son to save us. We are all slaves to sin, and Jesus bought us freedom from sin. He paid the price, with his life. Now that, that is true love. How many of us, are so in love with someone that we would die for them? It would be very hard for me, to give up my life, so that someone else might live. But what the Father did was harder than dying himself, he sent his only Son, to die for you and me. Now that is love. Do we deserve this love? NO! Nothing we do will ever make us deserving of his love, grace, and forgiveness. We are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God. Yet, he died for us, so that we may live. He didn't have to, but he did. Now that, that is true love.