Ain’t Skeer’d!
OK, well maybe I am sometimes. Truth is, we all are. If you don’t feel fear, you are either dead or a fool. Of the three, I’ll admit to being afraid. Sometimes.
The real question is not “Should we feel fear?” but rather “When fear comes, then what?” This question and a host of others are addressed in Max Lucado’s new book – Fearless out today from Thomas Nelson publishers. In typical Lucado style, he takes a complex issue and breaks it down into small chunks you can deal with. Here’s a 60 second spot from the author.
The very topic of fear is overwhelming. Just thinking of it can paralyze you. However, if you look just at some of the more common “fear factors” they begin to seem less overwhelming, manageable even:
- Fear of not mattering
- Fear of disappointing God (personal one for me)
- Fear of overwhelming challenges (another one for me)
- Fear of not being able to protect one’s kids
- Fear of global calamity
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Each one worth taking time to meditate on and find out what God has to say about it in scripture. All that is laced throughout the book:
“Why are you frightened?” He (Jesus) asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?” Luke 24:37-38
(Don’t hurry past Christ’s casual connection between fright and doubt. Unanswered qualms make for quivering disciples.) Page 142
“Jesus doesn’t want you to be afraid, nor do you.” Page 12
If the Fear of What is Next is what grips you “Make friends with what is next.” Page 132
Also laced throughout the book are subtle reminders of the time it which it is written. Right now as we are in the midst of – if you believe the media – “the worst economic time in history”. Max Lucado references this, however the message in this book will apply long after we are out of this present ditch.
You can read this book in a single, rainy afternoon and walk away feeling encouraged. Or you can take your time, look up the scripture references upon which he bases his arguments, meditate on them and ask God what He would have you learn.
“Somewhere between Pollyanna and Chicken Little, between blind denial and blatant panic, stands the levelheaded, clear-thinking, still-believing follower of Christ.” Page 158
Hiding-under a basket or otherwise.
I may touch on some sensitive topics in this one, so please know up front it is not my intention to inflame or offend, only to make one consider.
I am not sure why, but during worship the other week my mind drifted to the thoughts of those who, for one reason or another, made the tragic decision to end their life. It may have had something to do with one of the characters in the Andy Andrews book “The Noticer”. An elderly woman who thought she had nothing to contribute and was just spending her days waiting to die. In effect, she had committed suicide. While she was still technically alive, the life had gone out of her. She had watched as her friends, relatives and husband all passed on. The pain of loss was so great she was unable to move forward and establish new relationships. Unable to LIVE.
At any rate, if you take the pain out of the equation, physical, emotional, spiritual, etc. this leaves us very much in the place Jesus spoke about in Matthew 5. Life, with its pain, losses and just general byproducts of a fallen world can make us want to just sit around and wait until the end comes. I think that is why so many Christians are enthralled with all things eschatological (Someone owes me at least $3 for that word). Eschatology being the study of end times. “When Jesus comes back”. So enthralled with the final scene that they are effectively not living out their PRESENT redemption! We were redeemed – bought with a price – not to sit around making maps, charts, and graphs plotting some final battle when bugs that look like tiny flying horses are going to get wiped out by nuclear weapons, except for Jerusalem because those missiles will all fall as duds at the outskirts of town and be cleaned up by guys in white suits foretold in Ezekiel (and we wonder why people think we’re nuts). We were redeemed so we could go tell others that this life is NOT all there is. To go serve others. To go comfort others.
When the woman in “The Noticer” gets a new perspective, looks at things differently, she finds she has a lot of life left. There is still a lot to do. Gifts to be used.
And so it is with us. No matter what life throws at us, there is still a lot to do, gifts to be used. People to be served. Lives to be changed.
The Greatest Commandment for an Employee
Probably going to get yelled at by the Blasphemy Police on this one. I could argue my case, but I won’t.
Jesus was asked “In all the law, what is the most important commandment?” Jesus’ answer was “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.” Then He said “The second one is like it “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
People ask, “How can I succeed in work/business?” The same principle applies.
The first and greatest commandment is this: “Add value to the brand”.
The second is like unto it “Make the corporation money”.
On this rests all the laws of the Marketing and HR departments.
Truth be told, just like that incident 2000 years ago, it really is that simple. You can’t do one without the other and they both have to come from a genuine place in your heart.
“But what if I work for a church?”
Seems to me like whenever anyone asked Jesus a follow-up question, the real question they asked was “How can I do an end-run without following what you just said?”
Add value to the brand.
Make the corporation money (or, if you must, in the church world, steward the resources well).
Or, again to paraphrase Jesus “Don’t think about yourself all the time. Think about others and how you can serve them.”
