Learning To Abide

Fear, worry, and doubt are un-Christian practices.

How can I say this? Because Jesus says this.

Jesus tells us not to worry. If we ignore him and practice worrying, then we are disobedient to Jesus. 

Or, to put it another way, worry is a sin.

When we worry we are saying that we doubt that God is in control. We give power to our fear and we act as if God isn't big enough to handle our life.

Jesus also tells us not to be afraid. He tells us not to fear men, who can only destroy our body but not our soul. He even tells us not to fear Him. 

His Apostles remind us in the New Testament that perfect love casts out fear, and that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 

So, if we are ruled by our fears, we are not behaving like a Christian.

Doubt is a natural human emotion, just like fear and worry. But like those other emotions, doubt isn't something that a follower of Jesus can practice. 

If we are abiding in Christ, then we cannot doubt Him. If we go all in with Jesus, then that means we place all of our hope in Him, and if we do that we are not doubting, but trusting. 

Of course, none of us ever perfectly avoids these three things - fear, worry and doubt - but the point is that we do not practice these things. We don't allow fear, worry and doubt to remain. We cast those things out quickly and we refuse to be ruled by those because Jesus is our King and we are submitted to Him.

If we are abiding in Jesus, then we are practicing faith, hope and love, not fear worry and doubt.

Let's continue to walk in our new nature, which is Christ in us.

-kg

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THE SKY IS [NOT] FALLING>

FEARLESS>

WORRY NOT> 

“THE SKY IS [NOT] FALLING”

You’ve no doubt heard all about the looming threat of Obama's third term, the Jade Helm conspiracy, Secret FEMA prison camps being built in the southwest and other outrageous claims being made by certain groups of people who want you to remain in a constant state of fear.

I see these articles and links being shared on social media on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. It’s a non-stop barrage of “Lions and tigers and bears!” [Oh, my] And it’s driving me a little crazy.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been around a while longer than most of you, I don’t know. But I remember hearing these exact same claims when I was in my Twenties, only the claims were made about Clinton and the Liberal Agenda. Now they’ve just recycled the narrative and dropped in Obama’s name, because fear works.

 All of those articles about constant conspiracies are simply about employing fear to motivate people to support their agenda, give to their cause, or polarize a voting block. I have a standing offer to pay $100 to anyone who shares these alarmist posts with the challenge that if they actually come to pass I will pay them, but if it never comes to pass, they pay me. It’s both a practical way to force the issue of credibility on those who propagate these claims, and honestly, a potential way for me to earn a little extra spending money. 

But, of course, none of these people have taken me up on the offer. So, the date of the ominous event comes and goes without any incident – as we’ve seen with the Jade Helm nonsense, and all the ludicrous claims about Obama’s first – and second term – and instead of learning from all of this, people will just jump over to the next big conspiracy and scream “The sky is falling” once again.

I have a copy of the book “88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Occur In 1988” in my garage. It’s full of very convincing reasons [88 of them] but it’s also dead wrong. And we could say the same about Harold Camping, and Hal Lindsey, and Hagee's "Blood Moon" hype. 

What concerns me most of all is that Christians are the ones most often waving this flag around. It makes us look stupid. It makes us appear irrational. Most of all, it demonstrates to the World that we are driven by – and motivated most – by fear.

Jesus commands us not to fear. The New Testament clarifies that fear is not what motivates us; it’s love. And it’s also very clear that you can’t be filled with the love of Christ and be fearful at the same time:

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” [1 Jn 4:18]

Please, for the love of God [literally], stop being driven by fear. Instead, turn your eyes on Jesus. Put your hope in Him. Trust Him with everything. Let go of your fear and embrace the Lord who is in control.

The sky is not falling. The sky is the limit and love is what lifts us higher.

Let's fly.

-kg

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” ~Jesus (John 14:27)

Guest Post: Steve Kline

Contemplating how love and fear are opposites, Steve Kline took a few liberties with 1 Corinthians 13 and wrote the following:

Love sees the best in people and fear sees the worst.

Fear is impatient and is evil; fear envies and lusts for what others have; 
fear parades the self for all to see; fear puffs up; fear is rude, disrespectful, and demeaning, 
fear seeks its own gain, fear is provoked and brings the self under the control of what is feared; 

Fear thinks evil continuously; fear rejoices in iniquity and lawlessness; fear rejoices in lies;
fear is impatient, it bears nothing and demands everything now; 
fear believes nothing and is skeptical of everyone; 

Fear despairs and says all is lost; 
fear waits for nothing and takes action immediately.

I have acted in that fear. Sadly, I still do. 

But, praise God I'm learning more and more to walk by, with, and in, Christ.

Fearless

So, as I’m drilling down to uncover why so many of those who profess to know Christ are comfortable with killing, and torture, and war, I’ve discovered something: It turns out that what we really seem to lack is an abiding connection to the love of Christ in our daily, walking around lives.

At least, I cannot personally fathom how anyone who was abiding in Christ – who is Agape love incarnate – could look at another person made in the image of God and condone their torture, or approve of their death, or justify their suffering – even if it was in the best interest of our nation.

Not only are we disconnected from the love of Christ ourselves – and lacking in love for one another – we are also more often ruled by our fears than by our confidence in our Lord Jesus.

The truth is, our world is inundated with a continual, abiding fear. We are immersed in fear. We are surrounded by it. It is nearly inescapable in our culture today.

Don’t believe me? Just watch the evening news and count how often the word “fear” is used. Listen for how many times the news anchors refer to people who are afraid, or who are horrified, or terrified, etc. and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Then pay attention to the TV shows you watch. Notice how often fear is used to motivate everyone’s actions. Or how those real-life mystery shows train you to suspect your spouse or to mistrust your neighbors.

It’s on the Internet too. Just the other day I posted this on social media:

“Fear says: Buy bigger guns, locks and dogs to protect yourself. Love says: Welcome friend. What's mine is yours.”

The reaction I received to that was this: “Easy enough to say until you’re watching some thug rape your wife or daughter.”

Wow. Instant, automatic fear response. (And, yes, this was from a Christian).

Our choice is simple: We either decide to remain in a place of fear – and then we make decisions that flow from that fear – OR we decide to live in the love of Christ and then we make decisions that flow from Him and His love.

Let’s not kid ourselves here, we cannot do both.

Either we put our hope in Christ and we walk in His love, or we walk in fear and we live our lives as people who must manage those fears.

Let’s consider this for a moment: Could someone who honestly put their hope in Christ ever live in continual fear? Of course not! And someone who is led by their fears can’t – at the same time – be completely trusting the Lord and placing their hope in Him. The two are mutually exclusive.

As I’ve said once before, Jesus came and introduced us to something called “The Good News (or Gospel) of the Kingdom” and it is about complete submission and daily reliance upon Christ.

We either follow the Way of the World (which involves fear, and violence, and torture, and power, etc.), or we follow the Way of Christ (which involves trust, and love, and humility and service to others, etc.).

We cannot follow the Way of the World and the Way of Christ at the same time. It’s like saying that you’re going to get in your car and drive East and West at the same time. It can’t be done.

Either go one way or the other, but you can’t do both because one path will take you in the opposite direction from the other one.

Why am I writing about fear? Because fear is the flip side of the coin from love. We’re told that “Perfect love casts out all fear.” (1 Jn. 4:18) And I believe that if we cling to our fears we’ll also experience less love and suffer from the effects of that deficiency.

Anyone who doubts this can simply look around you. Our world is not following the Way of Christ. It is saturated with fear. It is ruled by fear. It is all about power and control and exploitation and selfishness. 

Jesus came and died to demonstrate a better way. That’s what we call the Good News. 

It means we can abandon those ways of being and start living a different way – a Heavenly way. It means we can actually be transformed from within by His incredible love and His amazing Holy Spirit into people who are not ruled by fear any longer.

Because we put our continual hope in Jesus we can love without fearing pain. We can trust without fearing violence. We can give without fearing poverty. We can share without fearing guilt.

As followers of Jesus, we have to say no to fear and yes to love. We have to repent and turn away from the way of the world. We have to put our hearts into His capable hands and begin to trust Him with everything. We have to start learning how to walk in love and to leave fear behind us for good.

Abiding in Christ means abandoning fear. The only thing that casts out all fear is His perfect love. When we are filled with his love there is no more room for fear. When His love fills us, we can’t help but love everyone around us – even our enemies.

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:16-19)