Evidence
Appearing
Real
i'm learning so much about fear lately. marriage has been wonderful and hugely fulfilling, but it has also brought about a great sense of how completely out of control i truly am over the circumstances of life. like an unplanned natural disaster, every week of marriage has within it an uncertain wind that seems to tear at the siding of perceived safety. great planning can hedge some tornadoes but eventually when it rains, it pours, and somehow i forgot to get flood insurance.
i'm speaking both literally and metaphorically, something that seems more and more common as the outward storms of mother nature mirror the inward storms of navigating everyday life. and no tempest appears more universal and grizzly as fear itself. my heart races, my mind searches for instant solutions, and my tongue (or inner dialogue) begins accusing someone--anyone but me--for the predicament i face this week. such is my lot when i allow fear to rule my perspective. so how do i quit being afraid? how do i see things as they are? how can i know what is true when everything false is louder and it's evidence is more convincing? my life, my family, my world, the world, the universe are in imminent demise!!!
woah there monty. . .going a little over board aren't you?
haha, yes, i am, but bear with me.
i'm learning that i'm always overboard if i'm agreeing with fear-feelings, and i'm not. i'm just growing up, which seems to run parallel with standing up to my deepest fears.
so facing fear requires the opposite of F.E.A.R.: Truth, Evidence, and Reality.
let's start with what i know is true. "I am the way, the truth and the life. the only way to the Father is through me." these are Jesus' words to humanity etched in scripture for all time, spanning the globe so that His fame has spread to the outermost regions of the world. love Jesus or deny Jesus, but i cannot simply say "he was a good guy." Jesus drew a line and said, "there aren't two ways about it. if you want to see things as they are, look at me." Jesus looks like God because He is God's Son--the expression of God's love and justice. Love because He spreads His arms open wide to everyone, justice because my sin killed Him.
now, the evidence. i know beyond doubt that Jesus walked the earth, died on a roman cross, and went missing 3 days later after being buried in a tomb. i know that hundreds of people claim to have seen Jesus only days after His resurrection. Hundreds of these witnesses became willing martyrs as they declared God's love for all mankind--even to their own brutal deaths. the early church spread because those who believed would not refute what they had seen. today, millions of people across the world claim to follow Jesus because they have met Him personally and been changed by His living spirit...so much that everyday now you can pick up the headlines and read that Christian martyrs are dying all over the world because of persecution (see china, burma, indonesia, iran, nigeria and the list goes on). but that is just the historical evidence of Jesus' life. let's also talk about what Jesus taught. He taught that men are sinful beyond their own understanding. He said that without intervention from a new spiritual conscience--the indwelling of the Spirit of Jesus--men were powerless to change the entropic flow of history towards chaos. He said that every man and woman would turn to their own way and deny God in their hearts. He spoke the truth about me.
finally, what has "appeared real" to us for the past century is rapidly disappearing. americans have had jobs, cars, homes, food, clothes, extra stuff and a continuous supply of whatever is needed to replenish us forever or so it seemed. now, we're all learning about globalization. i'm learning that as we ingest 25% of the world's oil supplies, the precious natural resource that has fostered much of our growth as a nation is running out. as more and more countries industrialize, things we have taken for granted begin to become scarce...food, clean water, affordable housing, and then there's jobs. more jobs are lost everyday with the unemployment rate near 10% and a growing number of jobs moving overseas as the US economy waivers in job creation. maybe more than oil is running out...is it possible the necessities i take for granted can disappear also?
so what's reality?
God loves us, all of us, and He places our deepest fears on the cross.
because He loves us, He will allow everything that 'appears real' to slip through our fingers until, finally, we experience life as we were made to...walking with God and knowing His love through the storm. God knows that my best hope of overcoming fear is to face it head on without flinching with Him, and after all the worst has happened (or not happened) to fall on my knees in gratitude that though the world melts away, i have met God face-to-face and found what i can never lose, God Himself. Jesus declares once and for all "that one is mine, and he'll be mine long after the world has gone because i have overcome the grave." Jesus never promised me that i wouldn't die...just the opposite...Jesus tells me that the wage of my sin is death. the good news of Jesus isn't that we can go through life pain-free. the good news is F.E.A.R is overcome by love.
like Jesus, those who stand firm in the face of sin, evil, lies, falsehood, and fear are destined for reality--the place where God reigns, love wins and justice is done on the cross.
false love comforts instead of warns. true love is the antidote to fear. it may be a fearful thing that God sees me as i am--a sinner. however, it is wonderful thing that God so loved me He would judge Jesus in my place. when i trust Jesus, i am not afraid because He promises though i die on this earth, i will one day live beyond the grave!
oh Jesus, help me trust You more. fill me with Your love. amen
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