Fear Not part 2
Think about this from God's point of view: He loves you so much that He gave His only Son for you. To bring you back into the fold. To get rid of any seperation that exists in YOUR mind that keeps you from experiencing everything He has and everything He is. And how do you treat Him? Like He's a mean, angry, distant taskmaster whose only goal is to punish you when you mess up. Think about the heartbreak that would cause. Someone reaches out their hand to help you, and you slap it away. Not only is that ungrateful on your part, but that's teaching the other party NOT to keep reaching out. It's not a perfect metaphor, because God will never stop reaching out to us. He will never stop loving us no matter how we react to His love. But the point I'm trying to make is... there is no fear in love. If you love someone, or if you know that you are loved by someone, that's the foundation that you can build a relationship on. That's a foundation that is strong enough to endure anything. If you're always afraid of what God will do... you're missing out on what He has already done. And what He has already done is the best thing anybody could ever do. He saved us. Forgave us. Cleansed us. Washed us with the Word (which is Jesus, which is love). Brought us out of death and into life. I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions in the religious world: Jesus did not come to make "bad" people "good." He came to make dead people alive. He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. He wasn't concerned with the afterlife. He didn't preach about what would happen after we die. He preached about what it meant to live! He was all about that abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. He was all about love. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. He didn't come to scare us straight. He came to show us love. And, again, there is no fear in love. Love is our safe place. God is our refuge. He doesn't want us to obey out of fear. That's not sustainable. If you're not doing what you want to do because you're afraid you'll get into trouble... eventually you're going to do it. You're just going to try to make sure you don't get caught. See, it's not behavior modification that is needed. It is right believing. Because right believing produces right living. What you believe is what defines your reality. What you believe is what manifests in your life--either the lie of the world or the ultimate truth of the universe that God is love and He loves you. If you're goal is to get away with things you shouldn't be doing... you need a new goal. But when you understand how immaculately loved you really are... your goal will be to share that love with the people you come into contact with. When you know what you've got--and when you know how good what you've got really is--you'll want to share what you've got. You won't be afraid anymore. You won't be afraid to let people (and God) love you, and you won't be afraid to love people. I know it can be scary to put yourself out there. I know it can be scary to be open and vulnerable. To give what you've got is scary when you think you might lose it. But, in this case, if you don't USE IT you lose it. Love is experienced by the sharing. Because love is giving. We don't have to be afraid. Of God, or of each other. We don't have to be afraid of losing what we've got. We are connected to the unlimited source. The God who IS love lives in us! And love is giving. So just receive it and release it. Give it away. "Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6). Don't be stingy with what you've got. Be generous. Have faith that in using it, you don't lose it. In using it, you experience it!