Fear

Today in church the message was on being free from fear. It was a pretty basic message, but it hit me really hard. The main verse was 2 Corinthians 9:8 "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at at all times, you may abound in every good work." At first the scripture and the message weren't really saying much to me at all. But then I started asking myself "What am I afraid of?"

I am terrified of speaking to people I don't know about God. Then I realized I am even more scared to talk to people I do know about God who don't have relationships with him. After I realized this the preacher made his first point which was fear is fueled by pride. And right then this junk started hitting home. I know God wants me to advance the gospel by outreaching to people I do and don't know, but I haven't humbled myself to his will. I felt like Jonah running away and trying to hide from God. Not a good idea.

The preacher read from Isaiah 51:12-13 "I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker..." The other day I wrote about how we have a living God, and live like he is dead. This is exactly what I was talking about. Our God reigns we have no excuse to be afraid of man who dies.

All of this brought a C. S. Lewis quote to mind from Weight of Glory.

"But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors of everlasting splendours."

Everyone we come in to contact with is going to spend eternity in Heaven or Hell. We don't live like we are interacting with immortals on a daily basis. The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor, and all of our neighbors are immortal. The convictions just kept piling up it was getting rough.

The next main point he made was that our job is to recieve God's grace, and that's when the 2 Corinthians verse made so much more sense. We achieve salvation by accepting it through Christ the same way we receive grace by accepting it through God. And God's grace enables us "to abound in every good work." I need God's grace. We need God's grace. Jerry Bridges said," Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of His grace. And your best days are never so good that are beyond the need of God's grace. Every day should be a day of relating to God on the basis of His grace alone." How can we relate to God if we aren't receiving his grace that he freely offers to us?

This is where it all came back to pride. I'm not trusting God with the results. Back in July I was reading through a bunch of books and on this one day I read three quotes and one scripture all about pride. C.S. Lewis defined pride as the Cardinal Sin. John Piper called it "the primal evil in the universe." Mark Batterson wrote that Pride undermines faith by creating and holding on to false assumptions. And Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:2 said " If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not know yet as he ought to know." Pride plagues our spiritual lives constantly. Through God's grace and His grace alone we can "abound in every good work," but we have to live by faith not fear. Through Christ we are free and we can recieve God's grace.

The best part about all of this is God is faithful even when we are not. Today in my quiet time I read Hebrews 10:19-39 and in my Bible it's titled "The Full Assurance of Faith," and it was definitely what I needed today. In the first verse the author talks states that "we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus," and later he says "for he who has promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:35-36 "Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." Why do we throw away our confidence? God is constant and faithful. Hallelujah!

All of this really challenged me today. To the point where I was crying during the worship at the end when we were singing Lead me to the Cross.

"Lead me to the cross

Where Your love poured out

Bring me to my knees

Lord I lay me down

Rid me of myself

I belong to You

Lead me, lead me to the cross "

It was as if the chorus was being sung about me, because the Lord was definitely bringing me to my knees. I pray that this message has challenged you as much as it has me. I pray that the Lord will rid us of ourselves so that we may recieve his grace and be reminded that we belong to Him.

"Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death."

~Mark Batterson

Trust God with the results.