Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
1 John 2:28 (emphasis added)

Jesus is coming back. He told us He was going to (Revelation 22:7). He said He was going to come suddenly (Mark 13:32). He said it was going to happen when we are going about our normal daily stuff (Luke 17:31). It is going to take us by surprise. It is going to be sudden. It is going to be the first moment that we are truly face to face with the one whom we have been calling our Lord and Saviour. The one whom we say we are submitted to. The one whom we say that we love and honour and cherish above all else. Thing is, He is also the one who has been with us every single step of the way (Deuteronomy 31:6). He is the Word made flesh who can see into our thoughts and hearts (Hebrews 4:12). And this is the One whom we are going to stand before looking Him in the eye. Will that be an ‘Oh! Yay!’ moment or an ‘Oh! No!’ moment. That moment where He comes to check if we’ve cleaned our rooms and we pause with panic in our eyes and say, ‘Let me go check for a minute.’ And scramble around as fast as we can. Will we be bold, or will we be ashamed?

The great thing about the Lord is that He doesn’t keep secrets about this kind of thing. Right in the beginning He lets us know that He wants us to behave. Not just choose a set of behaviour that we think is pretty good and stick to that most of the time. But to act in a way that He agrees with. That pleases Him. In case we didn’t get it, He comes to us again and again saying the same thing. Then He gave us several books of verse after verse after verse of what He likes. Some of it was instructional as types and shadows so that we’d understand things to come (like the sacrificial system). Some was for the setting apart of the Jews from those around them so that they would stand out and be noticeable for more than just their devotion to God (like not shaving their sideburns). But most were a series of guideposts for how to behave in a way that was in accordance with His righteousness.

Then we get book upon book upon book where we see it in action. If we follow those guidelines, we stay where He can bless us and wonderful things happen over and over. If we do not follow them, we step out into we’re-on-our-own-land and terrible consequences happen over and over again. Because when you move out from where God can bless you, you cannot be blessed. He still helps us, guides us, talks to us, loves us, tries to correct us, never leaves us, never forsakes us, calls us, and has a solution for us; but that isn’t blessing. Not walk in the fullness of the blessing anyway (Romans 15:29). That requires us to be broken of Self. To be obedient. To recognise that in Him we are everything and without Him? Nothing. That’s what the next bit was all about.

The gospels are our record of the main bullet points of what Jesus did. The accurate and all-we-need account of what He was here for. Sure, there is a lot we can learn from other places about Jesus’ life and ministry and the world in which He walked. But those are things to bring richness to what we need. The gospels are what we need. The character of Jesus, the obedience of Jesus, the compassion of Jesus, the firmness of Jesus, the faithfulness of Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus, and the desire of Jesus that we get it and walk in it. In case we didn’t understand what it was about, almost all of the rest of the bible is explaining to us what He taught. Apostles, preachers, and teachers have been continuing that mission for two thousand years and they continue to do it today. And finally we got a peek at the end. A glimpse at what is going to happen at the end to fulfil the rest of everything that God has been saying needs to be fulfilled. A quick Coles Notes on the ‘God Wins’ playbook.

That’s a lot. Depending on your translation, the bible contains 1189 chapters, 31,173 verses, 773,746 words, and 3,566,480 letters. All of it to show us that God Was, God Is, and God Will Be. Three and a half million words supporting all the things that God says are important. Three and a half million words giving us the utter importance of it all. “Again he returned and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they didn’t know what to answer him” (Mark 14:40). The importance of it all is lost on our flesh (Romans 8:7).

The fact is that we have been called to obey the Lord (2 John 1:6). That our obedience comes from our faith (Romans 1:5). That our faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). That our faith gets strengthened when we listen to the Word with intent to be instructed (Romans 10:17). That by this faith we order our steps in life (2 Corinthians 5:7). That without faith we are unable to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Since we can’t please God without faith, then it is obvious that anything not done in faith is displeasing to the Lord and in fact sin (Romans 14:23) because we have been told to do things God’s way (John 14:15-31). This is the standard of the believer’s life. This is how we should be striving to be. To walk in His ways. To follow His morals. To obey His commands. To study His Word and be instructed by it. This is what our spirits crave. This is what our spirits drive us to do. But our flesh has a different idea.

Our flesh is selfish and invested in itself. It has been from the moment we decided that the world revolved around us and our needs. You may not remember the exact moment. You were probably less than a few weeks old. If everything was going well you smiled or cooed or slept. If anything was not to your liking you fussed, or cried, or screamed until it was eliminated. While that was done in total innocence and need, the flesh learned a pattern. Later, that pattern continued and you chose to gratify yourself instead of God and you sinned. Once you sin, the game is up.

Thank the Lord God Almighty that He is merciful. He in His sovereignty and infinite wisdom decreed that if you were ignorant of Him and His Laws you would not be held to account by them. “But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). God doesn’t hold the ignorance of the ignorant against them. No. Instead, Jesus came to spread the message to everyone. “Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, in whom he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, who before were disobedient when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water” (1 Peter 3:18-20). Jesus spread the message and instructed us to spread the message so that everyone can benefit from what Jesus did. “We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).

So here we are. Jesus came and died for us. Becoming our sin and paying the price He didn’t deserve to pay so that we can have the reward that we don’t deserve to have. He was resurrected to life again by the Father so that we can be resurrected into Jesus through His death on the cross. We—as the born again—are to spread that message to all humanity: God made a way for us to be reconciled to Him and get back to where we belong—in His favour, before His throne, in obedience to Him. It’s a two sided mission. Spread the message on one side, obey the Lord on the other. Seems pretty cut and dried. Black and white. If we hold to that, when Jesus comes back we will be able to look Him straight in the face without an ounce of pride and listen to Him say “Good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). We will have boldness and not be ashamed. We won’t be puffed up, but we will have confidence before Him because we will know that we have done what He asked.

But what if we don’t? The flesh isn’t invested in obedience. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire” (Galatians 5:17). “I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification” (Romans 6:19). “Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,” (1 Peter 2:11). “For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God, for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be. Those who are in the flesh can’t please God” (Romans 8:6-8). The flesh is incompatible with faith.

Oh, that’s big things, you say. I don’t do that. I obey the Ten Commandments. I go to church. I praise and worship. I do my devotions every day. I’m good. But you’re not. How much of all that you do is motivated by faith? We say Jesus you are Lord of my life, but we don’t give our lives. If we did, we would be thinking about Him whenever we did something. It might not be a specific verse or command, but it will be a principle. For example, the Lord doesn’t want you to hurt yourself (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Whenever we eat, we should be eating things that help our body and not harm our body. I can feel the dander rising at that. My own self says ‘whoa, hang on now’. Yeah, I know. Food tastes good. Junk food tastes better. Fast food fits the lifestyle of the modern world. Easy meals make sense. Snacks are fun and fulfilling for a time as we do other things like game or watch shows. I understand all that. But do you understand that food in this world is weaponised against us? Do you understand that the food industry is driven by profit and their products are designed to get you to consume them? Do you realise that 90% of all nutrition information that we get isn’t accurate? That it is skewed? I won’t go down that rabbit hole, but it is true. Most of what we think is healthy, isn’t that healthy. End of the day though, are we thinking about our taste buds or our health when we go to eat? Or when we decide to drive to the mailbox instead of walk? Or to lie down and rest from our hard day instead of hitting the exercise regimen for an hour?

“Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). Being the temple of the Lord is more than just what we eat or if we exercise. All of us is the temple. Our minds, hearts, emotions, and body. All of it. Our spirit is set, redeemed and sealed in the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). It’s the rest of us that we need to be concerned about. Are we watching things that help us or hinder us? We as a family are having a hard time finding material for our kids to watch and read that is acceptable. We consume a lot of material, but so much of it gets partly read or watched before our spirits kick against it. We don’t want things that glorify the world. We don’t want things that glorify feelings as the basis for making decisions. I heard a great comment and I apologise because I don’t know who said it. But they said our feelings are like our children. They should be listened to and acknowledged, but we should never let them make major life decisions for us. That is very true and consequently, we have issues when we hit things that say we should order our lives and what we say is acceptable and right based on feelings.

I am not saying everything in the world is terrible. It isn’t. But I am not going to keep putting their programming into me because they don’t want to entertain me, they want to train me. I will not be trained by the world. More than that, they are great time wasters. How often do you decide to spend time with the Lord early in the morning or late at night? To have that peace of the house around you so that you can commune with the Lord? Do you make it through without falling asleep? Do you spend more time struggling to maintain focus and consciousness than you do connecting with Jesus? And yet, throw on social media and we can doom scroll for hours. Throw on a sitcom and we can binge watch it. Grab a bible and you won’t often find yourself powering through book after book.

We all know the basic things that the Lord has for us to do. Simple, regular things. Are we doing them? By doing them, we can have revealed to us the bigger things. Are we doing them? We are called to abide in Jesus (John 15). Not once a week. Not for our devotions alone. But all the time. Thinking about our lives as the Father thinks of them. Not worrying about silly things like food and clothes, but relying on the Holy Spirit to nudge us as we do everything with an eye to how God feels about it. With an eye to what kind of witness it is. Will it be hard? Of course it will! Crucifying yourself isn’t fun. But it is necessary. Is it all work, slave, work? No. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. But if we don’t do it, we aren’t obeying the first principle of human existence: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your resources. Putting Him above all. Listening to Him in all. And obeying Him in spite of all.

When the Lord Jesus comes back, we will be face to face with Him. No more excuses. No more justifications. No more whining. No more ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’. No more ‘Just five more minutes, Father!’ The time will be spent. Done. Over. We will either be able to stand there with boldness, knowing we didn’t hit it every time but that we lived a life of obedience. A life devoted to God. Being the best secretary we could. Being the best drywaller. Spreading the gospel to our acquaintances and friends. Witnessing by our actions as well as by our deeds. Teaching our family to love and trust the Lord. Blessing those around us. Loving them, not judging them. Enjoying what life had to offer, but not wasting hour after hour, day after day on it. If we can’t do that. If we can’t honestly stand there with the boldness of knowing we brought our ‘A’ game to our walk with the Lord. If we can’t, then we are going to be ashamed of ourselves. Tell yourself anything that you like now. It won’t change that at that moment we will either be bold or ashamed. And no one is bold about disobedience when you’re in the presence of Godly Righteousness.

We are not slaves, we are lovers. We are not pure tools, we are beloved children. We have tasks to do. We have a message to spread. We have laughs to laugh. We have blessings to enjoy. We also have blessings to spread. We have abundant life to live. And at the end of our obedience. At the end of our submitting to the Lord and letting Him run the show. At the end of all this, we can be bold. Knowing we have done our best. Not pridefully, but gratefully. Worshipful for the Grace and the Faith and the Holy Spirit. Grateful for Jesus and all that He enabled us to do in Him. Humble and ready to do the next thing. Worship into the next step. Just as we are not to be ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus, we are to live so that we are not ashamed of the walk of ourselves in Him. In Jesus, By Jesus, Through Jesus, and For Jesus we can do all things for He strengthens us. Remain in Him. Remain in Him and be the branch He’s made you to be. Connected to Him, fed by Him, refreshed by Him, and empowered by Him.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Matthew 26:43

Psalm 103:14 assures us of the fact that the Father doesn’t forget that we are dust. He doesn’t teach us addition and then berates us for not calculating pi to the thousandth decimal place (which is 9 according to my computer). He doesn’t forget our weakness. Rather He reminds US of it. He reminds us that in Him we are more than what we think we are (Ephesians 3:20). That we were beautifully made (Psalm 139:14). That we fight our flesh (Romans 8:7). That He has made a way for us to escape our temptations (1 Corinthians 10:13). When the Lord sets something before us, He doesn’t leave us alone. He comes to us. And He comes to us. And He comes to us again. Matthew 26:43 is the third time in a single night that Jesus came back to His disciples to check on them and commune with them. But He found them asleep. He found them not maintaining their tasks. He comes to us to remind us. To check in with us. To encourage us. To be encouraged by our faithfulness. But there will come a time when He stops. When He lets us have our way. When He tells us ‘okay’. It is a sad day. It happened to the disciples in the next verse (44): “He left them again, went away, and prayed a third time, saying the same words.” The next time He comes, there is no time left. The event is upon them. They muffed it. We have been given tasks by the Lord. Large and small. Simple and complex. Everyone has something to do. Usually more than one thing. Are you doing any of them? Are you keeping Him foremost in your mind? Are you checking in with His morals no matter what you do? Are you talking to Him in the back of your mind all your waking hours? Keeping His Word before your eyes on a daily basis? We can all find out how to live our lives in Him. The Word isn’t shy about what righteousness is, what we are called to do, and how we can keep Him front and centre in our lives. We’re called to crucify ourselves to do it. It’s important. It’s how we abide in Him. Are you doing it? “He who testifies these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Yes, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20). Will you be caught napping? Will you be caught faithful? Are you saying Yes, come, Lord Jesus! Or are you saying Just five more minutes? Jesus will give you all the minutes the Father allows. But He will come to us and say ‘the time is upon us’ and then it will be too late. How will He find you? Ready? Or with heavy eyes?

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.