FEAR
Scripture Reading: Luke 5: 1-11
FEAR…what is it good for? It can serve a good purpose, such as protecting us. For example, when we are a young child we are told, “Don’t touch that! It is hot and will burn you!”
Fear can also be a good motivator to get us to do something that is good for us. When we are told a major storm will soon reach us, we go into gear to stock up on food and water and ensure our household is safe.
There are also examples of mass fear that are not good for us. Remember the Y2K scare of the year 2000? Most of the world was thrown into chaos after being told there would be a major technological shutdown. Absolutely nothing happened of any significance. In fact, countries that refused to take any technological safety measures suffered no ill effects of any kind.
Today, young school children are being frightened with the teaching that something must be done immediately to prevent the entire world from absolute certain environmental disaster.
What is the common denominator in this mass fear? The NEWS MEDIA. It actually creates fear among masses of people. Canadians can have a great impact on the overall mental health of our fellow citizens by not buying into everything they receive from the news media. The media loves to take a little bit of information and work it over like a dog works over a bone, until something small becomes something huge and disastrous.
I like the words of Jesus in Luke 5:10. He said, “Do not be afraid.” Jesus had just proven to Simon, James and John that they could trust Him and His power and authority over all things. They could trust their lives fully to Him without fear.
They did not know what the future had in store for them but they knew that with Jesus in their lives, they could entrust every care and concern into His hands. Yes, there are many truthful and relevant things that we need to be concerned with, and yes, Jesus and others from biblical times have warned us of major things to come upon the Earth, and yet we know Who is ultimately in control. We can entrust our very lives into the hands of Almighty God, knowing that He will give us the strength and wisdom to endure.
When Jesus said, “Do not be afraid” He meant that we can trust Him to take care of us.
Follow Me
Scripture Reading: Luke 5:27-32
Levi the tax collector was sitting at his post when Jesus came along, stood in front of him and said, “Follow Me.” These are the same words that Jesus says to each and every one of us. What does He mean, exactly, by saying, “Follow Me?”
Levi could have chosen to be a believer and follower of Jesus on a private, unnoticeable level, but that is not what God expects of us. Jesus left His heavenly home, taking on the life of a human being with all of its challenges, suffering terrible indignities, and died an agonizing death in our place for our spiritual salvation. Therefore, we owe Him nothing less than our very best.
What did Levi do when Jesus said to him, “Follow Me? He left all, rose up, and followed Him.” This, then, is what we must do. We must leave our selfish and sinful ways behind, turn our back on ALL of our sin, even the appearance of it, and follow Jesus completely with our whole being. When speaking with one of the religious teachers of the day, Jesus taught him the very first and second commandment that we read in Mark 12:29-31--”Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God will all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
After all that Jesus did for us on the cross at Calvary, and continues to do for us from heaven, we owe Him nothing less than our ALL, or else we cheapen the terrible cost that He paid for the salvation of our souls.
After deciding to commit himself to Jesus as Lord, Levi then did something else. He honoured Jesus publicly and openly by giving Him a great feast in his own home, not off somewhere in some secret place. No, instead he invited other tax collectors to the feast. These were his friends, not people of high honour or dignitaries. He also invited other “sinners” to join them. As followers of Jesus Christ we too must bravely invite others to met Jesus personally. We must be willing to take an open and public stand for Him, unafraid or unconcerned with what others will say about us, especially our friends.
This large banquet would have cost Levi great personal expense. We too must be willing to have our service to Jesus cost us something, regardless of what it is. It entails our time, our commitment, our finances, our willingness to be misunderstood by others. Unless we are willing to have our service to God cost us something, it is considered cheap salvation. As recorded in Matthew 10:37-39 Jesus says to us, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Once we have accepted Christ as Saviour and Lord, we are not to expect to just sit back and coast through the rest of our lives, becoming spiritual vegetables. No, God has given us a very important job to do. Every single follower of Jesus Christ has been given an important ministry. It is called “the ministry of reconciliation.” Put very simply, this means that we are now Christ’s personal representatives of Him with the responsibility of telling others with our lifestyle and our gentle words, how very much He loves them and wants a personal relationship with them just as He has done for us.
God explains for us in 2 Corinthians 5;17-21 that our old lives have now been changed from being separated from God through our sin, to that of wonderful fellowship with Him through Jesus’ substitution for us on the Cross and our repentance of sin. Our old life is gone and we now have a new life. “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us” to spiritually lost people in need of a Saviour. God himself has given us a very serious vocation, the most important job we will ever have in this life, far beyond that of anything else we do with our lives. He describes this responsibility very clearly in Proverbs 24:11--”Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.” We have been given an important position on God’s rescue team and we must not make light of it. The very souls of people are counting on us, but if we try to plead ignorance of our responsibility to them, God says He will hold us accountable (verse 12).
Yes, Jesus’ words “Follow Me” mean far more than just asking us to say a few words of repentance asking His forgiveness for our sinful ways and choosing Him as Saviour. That is just the beginning.
Bad News/Good News
Scripture Reading:
Philippians 4:1-8
Bad news. This is most of what we hear these days from the media. They are reluctant to report the good news. As a result, it forces people to withdraw into their self-created, tiny world of existence in order to protect their mind and spirit from persistent assault. They close their ears, hoping to make it all go away, thereby convincing themselves that negative situations do not exist. I wish it were that easy.
I too have experienced this. After three years of intense work publishing the EMPOWER Journal magazine, I found myself exhausted from all the research and writing. On a regular basis I was required to wade through countless books, magazines, newspapers, and Internet articles in my search for valuable information to share with subscribers. It left me wondering if any good news was left, and I longed to escape to a lonely cabin somewhere in the hills.
Thankfully, there is much to celebrate, regardless of what is occurring around us. Whenever I find myself discouraged with the carnage, that “Little Voice” speaks to my spirit, reminding me of all that is good—the fact that I am able to see with my eyes the beauty around me. I have the ability to walk, talk, do things for myself, and I am not dependent upon someone else to bathe, dress, or feed me. My mind is health and lucid, enabling me to make rational decisions for myself. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets, singing birds, newborn babies and beautiful music all remind me of God’s wonderful Creation.
My life is blessed with loving family and good friends. And most of all, I know I am loved by God in spite of my sin, my failures and weaknesses. He proved His love for me by taking my sins upon Himself on the Cross, making a way for me to have a personal and intimate relationship with Him once I repented of my sin and accepted Him as my Saviour and LORD.
Perhaps someone reading this does not have a loving family or even a family. Thankfully, the family of God is large and welcoming so that no one is to feel left out. Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus can be found everywhere. We have the same Saviour, same Holy Spirit, same Father. We are all one in and through Him. God tells us that as His children, we are to care for one another, to share in one another’s victories, share one another’s struggles, and to come alongside in practical and prayerful support. There is great strength when we are unified in Christ. This is how God planned it.
We are further blessed and built up as the Holy Spirit ministers to us—by giving wisdom, strength and discernment for our daily lives as we fully surrender to Him. And, the LORD loves us with His everlasting love.
Yes, there is great reason for celebration and we must not allow the bad news to rob us of the daily blessings we have been given to enjoy. We can still retain God’s presence within us without having to hide ourselves away from the reality of life around us. In the book of Philippians chapter 4, God tells us to meditate on all that is just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy—and He will give us His peace. This is definitely good news!
Embrace and enjoy God’s peace!
Sleeping and Resting
Scripture Reading:
Mark 14:26-42
Have you ever heard someone say, “I would NEVER do that!” Some have passed judgment upon others struggling through a difficult situation, thinking that if they would just get their act together and be more like them, they would be much better off. This is pride at its peak.
The Passover meal was finished and Jesus had just instituted the Lord’s Supper. He then sang a hymn with His disciples and led them to the Mount of Olives just outside the city of Jerusalem. Here, Jesus told them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night,” but Peter declared that even if everyone else were made to stumble, he never would. He vehemently stated that he would not deny Jesus even if it meant dying with Him.
We always hear of Peter’s proud denial after Jesus predicted that he would deny Him three times that night, but we don’t read the rest of verse 31 of Mark 14. It says, “And they all said likewise.” It was not only Peter that said he would never deny Christ. They all said it.
Too often we say things such as, “That won’t happen to me!” I will never be unemployed. I will never get divorced. I’m too smart to be cheated by anyone. My faith is too strong to do that. There are certain temptations I will never succumb to. Look at that person’s children. My children are too godly to behave like that.” Be careful. Be very careful. We sometimes forget that we are mortal, being made of dust. We are not some spiritual Superman or Wonder Woman—and neither are our children.
On the Mount of Olives, Jesus, feeling distressed knowing the hour of his betrayal and arrest was at hand, asked His disciples to “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (verse 38). Twice, while He was in agonizing prayer, He returned to discover His disciples had fallen asleep instead of being watchful and prayerful.
When He returned to them a third time and found them again sleeping, He said, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come. See, My betrayer is at hand.” In other words, “Never mind, here he comes to hand Me over.”
How should this speak to us today? I fear that as with the disciples, too many Christians today are asleep at the switch. There are signs all around us of the fulfillment of God’s end-time prophecies but Christendom is asleep, having been lulled into a false sense of security. Too many have grown sluggish in their prayer time and Bible reading, robbing themselves of being spiritually forewarned and forearmed.
Today, the Church is becoming more and more apostate while her members don’t realize it is happening. Why? Because they are not reading untainted Scripture for themselves, thereby protecting themselves from deceitful people pretending to preach the truth while they secretly re-write and re-interpret God’s Word.
Jesus’ instruction to “Watch and pray” is just as pertinent for us as it was for His disciples. How will we know what dangers to watch for if we don’t read the Manual that God gave to us? The enemy of our souls is crafty and loves to make error look like truth. And who better to use as accomplices than those who act and speak like true disciples of Christ while living for the enemy? Remember Judas Iscariot?
For our spiritual protection we must remain awake, alert, and determined to not fall asleep. We must not think we can rest and coast to the finish line safe and unscathed while ignoring Jesus’ admonition to watch and pray. That would be falling victim to the belief that “I’m okay. Nothing will ever cause me to fall or stumble. I know all there is to know in the Bible so I’m not concerned about being tricked. I know a lie when I see or hear one. I will NEVER be fooled.”
If we fall for this way of thinking, we should not be surprised to one day hear, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Never mind, the hour has come and your betrayer is at hand.”