Day 142: John 19:7-8

"The Jewish leaders replied, 'By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.'When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever." ~John 19:7-8, NLT

I know that I write here to combat fear, but I think that this verse shows a simple, important, missed fact. God is scary. I know, He's good, and what He does is always in the best interest for humanity. There's always the age-old question, if that is true and God is good, why do bad things happen? Simply, Christians do stupid things and attribute them to God. Crusades, Inquisition, anyone? And I quote Jordan "Blimey Cow" (look him up on Youtube, you won't regret it unless your sarcasm detector is broken and you take all things at face value) - God doesn't want to and doesn't take the credit for all of the stupid things people, especially Christians, do. God is the creator of the Universe - doesn't that put some things in perspective? Doesn't that scare you? Maybe you should rethink this whole Christian business. Again I quote "Blimey Cow" - God is love and love is terrifying. Christians should be some of the scared-est people ever. Or at least scariest, because think about it - we serve God.

Pilate up there, he was scared of God's son. And we serve Jesus. Who was God. People, if Pilate, the highest form of Roman power that Jesus came into contact with, was frozen with fear (check some of the other versions) imagine how the Emperor would have felt! "You're God's son and you're leading a rebellion in Israel against me? I'm doomed!" It should be occurring to you that part of the reason people ridicule Christianity is because they're scared to death that we could be right. They're scared to death that they actually don't have any control over their lives (which can be scary for us sometimes too...) and that an invisible, living God could be calling them to abandon their illusion of power and control.

By the law of the world we should die because we serve God. But don't worry, all the anger and hatred is just a way of covering up fear. And you don't have anything to fear, because remember? You're the one serving God! Which is pretty scary sometimes. But at least you don't have all of the things of the world to fear in addition to God zapping you with judgement. (PS: He doesn't usually do it that way. But He will on Judgement day.)

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Day 141: 2 Timothy 1:7

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." ~2 Timothy 1:7, NLT

Paul was a really great and loquacious guy - at least we hear the most from him in the New Testament, and this letter to Timothy is no different. God gave Paul a fervent spirit for missions, and for His people. He also gave Paul a great understanding of many confusing and perplexing items of faith - including, in this case, the general gifts that God gives all of His children. And in this verse, it's clearly spelled out what God has NOT given us, and that is fear. Being afraid is not a gift, it's something we don't even need if you consider the gifts He DID give us!

HE GAVE US POWER

It's almost the exact opposite of fear - when you're afraid, do you feel powerful? No! You feel terror because you have a realization that you are powerless to make a change to your situation! And yet God gave us a gift of power... It's not our own power - it's God's power. God, who made the Universe, has the power to change your situation. Now even if you can't change your situation, He can. In that power, why don't you ask Him to show you why this situation is occurring around you, what He wants you to learn from it, and how you can make it through? (Here's a hint: you'll need His help.)

HE GAVE US LOVE

God is love. He gave you the gift of love. God gave you Himself - through Jesus, we have access to the power described above. If you haven't accepted Jesus, the first step to claiming your gifts and letting God take care of your fears is to embrace this love. In another letter, Paul (at least I think it was Paul) explained that perfect love casts out all fear. If you're living in God's love, you're already aware that there's nothing to be afraid of. Brilliant, eh?

HE GAVE US SELF-DISCIPLINE

Now this one made me scratch my head a few times. God gave us these great and monumental gifts like love and power, and then... self-discipline. Feels a little anti-climactic to me, but it's not! You see, we have to choose to accept the gifts. We have to choose to know and love God. We have to choose to believe that He loves us, and of course, we have to choose to fear not. That's just the drawback of free will. We have to freely choose to bind ourselves to Christ. But when you think about the things Christ did, who wants to willingly bind themselves to the pain, the hardships, the trials? Generally, we just want to bind ourselves to the love and confidence and forget everything else, but it doesn't work that way. If we bind ourselves, we bind everything. To get us through the rough spots of choosing, God gave us the gift of self-discipline. In every bad situation we have choices. This gift helps us make the right choices, the ones that make us better people, the ones that let us know Him better, the ones that help us realize we don't have to be afraid.

After all, God didn't give us the gift of being afraid.

One final note - I used the word "gift" but in the verse, you'll notice Paul used the word "spirit". The difference is simply a matter of being. "Gift" sounds like an item you can activate, but "spirit" means a state of existence - and as beings who exist, our attitudes or "gifts" are perpetual on the timeline.

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Day 140: Genesis 50:21

"Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I'll take care of you and your children." He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart." ~Genesis 50:21, NCV

Hey, remember Joseph from the other day? We talked about the first part of his speech to his brothers, where he reminded them he wasn't God, and thus they had nothing to fear from him. Well, this is the second half, and it's very much along the same lines.

His brothers had every reason to expect vicious revenge from Joseph. But God's people aren't like that, because they know God is the source of all justice, and that it's His job to avenge them. They also know that God is the only one to fear, and that acts of revenge go against Him. Later on in History, Jesus puts this point very clearly by telling us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to do good to those who hurt us.

God's people should make the world a better, safer place. And Joseph demonstrated that nicely - "you have nothing to fear" from me, "I'll take care of you and your children." Sometimes that means putting dangerous people in prison. Sometimes that means embracing forgiveness and offering a loving hand to those who hurt you. You shouldn't have to feel defensive around God's people - that doesn't mean much, though, because we're all just sinners serving a God who loves us.

Allow me to be a Joseph today - God loves you, and like in Joseph's case, He can make every bad situation work out to something good, if you let Him. With that in mind, need you fear for your future, if you know that every step of the way, no matter how different or uncomfortable, will make you into the very best person you can be?

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Day 139: Leviticus 26:6

"I'll make the country a place of peace-you'll be able to go to sleep at night without fear; I'll get rid of the wild beasts; I'll eliminate war." ~Leviticus 26:6, MSG

The header of Leviticus 26 (NLT) reads "Blessings for Obedience". Now, lots of people don't recommend taking the headers seriously because they were added in by English scribes and weren't actually part of the original Scripture. But I think the header gives perfect context for today's verse.

Leviticus is a part of the Torah, and explains many of the rules that God gave the Israelites to follow so that they could be righteous and pure in His sight. Verse 3 begins with "if you follow my decrees and obey my commands..." and begins to list off God's promises for the Israelites. The promise to make Israel a place of peace is conditional - if the Israelites obeyed God's commands, then He would fulfill His promise. While we know God works for good in all things (Romans 8:28) we also know that He wants to give His children good gifts - peace of mind. We can ask God for this gift without the stipulation of following every single command in the Torah, because our "if/then" statement has been updated - if you repent of your sins and believe Jesus is Lord, then God will give you peace, or at least He'll help you sleep at night without fear.

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Day 138: Genesis 50:19

"But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you?" ~Genesis 50:19, NLT

The tale of Joseph is one we all know well - his brothers hated on him for a God-given gift of dreams, and so they beat him up and sold him into slavery. Joseph ended up in Egypt, serving a powerful leader named Potiphar. One thing led to another, and Potiphar's wife sent Joseph to prison, where he stayed for a long time. His gift of interpreting dreams came in useful for two prisoners, who had gotten kicked out by the Pharoah. One of the prisoners died, one was returned to his position in Pharaoh's house. The Pharaoh had a dream, and Joseph got pulled out of jail to interpret. Thanks to God, Joseph did, and he was placed as the Vizier of Egypt - second in power only to the Pharaoh!

There was a famine in the land, and Joseph's brothers came to Egypt, where Joseph had been set in charge of collecting food for seven years prior. They didn't recognize Joseph at first (being a Vizier and all... they still thought he was dead!) but when they did, they were terrified! But Joseph replied with what should always come to mind when we are afraid - don't be scared, I'm not God!

No matter who or what you're afraid of, unless it's God, you don't need to be. What can a mere mortal do to your body, as Jesus asked? God is the one who will have to send your soul to burn if you do evil, and your soul is immortal. The rest can't do that. So why be afraid of THEM?

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Day 137: 1 Peter 3:6

"Sarah obeyed Abraham, her husband, and called him her master. And you women are true children of Sarah if you always do what is right and are not afraid." ~ 1 Peter 3:6, NCV

In this section of 1 Peter, the apostle is writing about how husbands and wives should treat each other: does "wives, submit to your husbands" ring a bell? This is probably where you'd find it. In true writerly fashion, Peter refers to Sarah and Abraham as two role models for the parts. I'd like to focus perhaps a little too narrowly, today, on the second half of the above verse.

Everything in this verse is referring to the way wives act towards their husbands. Yet just read the second half. "You women are true children of Sarah if you always do what is right and are not afraid." Without the context of what "right" is referring to (honoring your husband, if you'd like to know), we can still know that we SHOULD do what is right - fearlessly. Children of the promise are often referred to as Abraham's children - this verse suggests that the men are children of Abraham and the women children of Sarah. And God found both of them to be pleasing in His sight. So can we. How?

By doing what's right.

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Day 136: Jeremiah 5:22

"Have you no respect for me? Why don’t you tremble in my presence? I, the LORD, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set." ~Jeremiah 5:22, NLT

Sometimes God sends calamities to wake His people up. Sometimes the ones who should be following Him the most ardently are the ones who turn their backs when it counts. It is then that God says the above verse - to remind them, and to warn those who haven't turned. God isn't a teddy bear, lovey-dovey and one who never gets angry but always turns a blind eye to our mistakes. He's God.

He loves us more than we could know, and He is slow to anger, and He forgives our mistakes when we confess them and repent of them. He's still God, the one who defines the ocean's sandy shoreline, who created tectonic plates and dinosaurs. The only thing we have to fear in life... is God. Who loves us.

Remember that.

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