Fear No Fear

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

Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Mark 9:50 (emphasis added)

This is not a new statement by Jesus. He taught this idea in the Sermon on the Mount. “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men” (Matthew 5:13). Salt preserves food. We are called to preserve the Word of God in this world – making disciples of all men (Matthew 28:19-20). Salt enhances flavour. We are called to enhance the lives of those around us – empowering our neighbours to prosper (Hebrews 13:6). We are to be the salt of this earth. Just like Jesus was. If we lose that saltiness, what good are we? If we are locked up in our buildings and ignoring the outside world, what good are we? If we are sitting in our homes worshipping the Lord and ignoring even our neighbours, what good are we? We are the salt of the earth. We are the light in the world. We are not to be hidden, not kept to ourselves, not quiet and sneaky followers of Jesus keeping the secret to ourselves. We are not to be full of fear, but ambassadors of peace.

“For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (1 Corinthians 5:10). If you haven’t been salty, will you have anything to show for yourself? Remember, there is no condemnation for us who are in Jesus (Romans 8:1). We aren’t going to be judged for our sins because Jesus paid for sin. We won’t be before the Great Throne of Judgment – we are the bride of Christ! We are held to a different standard. We will be before the Bema Seat of Christ. The reward seat. Like the seat the Emperor sat on giving out the awards at the Olympics. Thing is though, if you haven’t accomplished anything there won’t be a reward. Instead of a ‘good job’ we will see every opportunity, every moment we could have done something, every chance we had to tell people about Jesus, to be obedient to Jesus, to do the things we have individually been called to do by the Lord. How will you feel? How well are you doing? Our motivations will be brought to light. Our heart reasons for doing or not doing everything we have and haven’t done. Were we salty? Or did we lose our saltiness?

Salt was a symbol of eternity. It was a symbol of purity. It was a symbol of peace between two people – often given as a gift upon entering a home. It was a symbol of preservation. It was a symbol of healing – often rubbed into a wound to cleanse it during battle. It had worth. It was used in sacrifices. It was used for cooking day to day, but it was something more than that. It was something special. Until it lost its saltiness. THAT salt was used as grit on the ground in winter. We’re used to that. We buy it by the bag and salt our driveways, walkways, and roads. It helps with the ice and snow, but that’s about it. It gets on your footwear, your tires, the bottom sides of your vehicle. It turns snow weird colours. It doesn’t look pretty, it isn’t valued, and we wash it away into the gutter as soon as it has done its job.

What are we doing with our salvation? Are we feeding our faith and building up our inner self? Are we keeping ourselves in the Word? Are we abiding in Jesus? Or are we treading water? Are we not being as zealous in our walk as we were when we were first saved? “Therefore we ought to pay greater attention to the things that were heard, lest perhaps we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, by various works of power, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will?” (Hebrews 2:1-4). This isn’t losing our salvation. This is worse. This is us losing that which makes us special. This is losing our love of the Lord. This is us becoming bland and lukewarm and it is serious stuff.

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). We can get so complacent in our prosperity. In our worldliness. In our advantages in modern society. We don’t have to gather our food. We don’t have to struggle to stay warm. We don’t have to build our own shelters. We can get employment, buy homes and food and clothes. We have cellphones, computers, tablets, televisions, and a thousand other gadgets. We have shoes that sparkle and glow with each step. We have makeup and bangles. We have weapons and motorcycles. We have books and digital content. We have everything that you can want in life and live in a society that cares very much about us having things. You can spend your entire life thinking on it, chasing it, acquiring it, and then using it. Jesus went on in Revelation 3:17 saying “Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing,’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;” This is the natural default of the world. Work hard, get things, stand back and be happy in the security of the stuff that you have.

But the world is going to get shook up. Hard. They don’t see it – even in their panic at things that are going wrong. The world banking system is teetering on the edge of a knife. Decades of playing fast and loose with money that didn’t exist is catching up with them. When they left the gold standard behind, they stopped basing their finances on something we say has value and instead just issued money that only became real in the debt that it incurred. Sounds crazy, I know. Trust me. Go check out how loans work. Listen to a few videos on world finance. It IS crazy and it will not last forever. And when it all comes crashing down, what security will all those people have? They’ve stood on their wealth, once that wealth disappears what have they left to themselves? When the stock market crashed in 1929, the suicide rate grew from 17 suicides per 100,000 people to more than 21 in 1932. That wasn’t a big increase. This wasn’t people jumping from windows – that is a Hollywood myth. There were only a few deaths directly attributed to the crash. But fortunes were wiped out. Huge losses were incurred by thousands upon thousands of people. Banks closed their doors. Jobs were lost. A depression started that lasted right into the Second World War. They based their security on wealth and wealth failed.

When we base our lives on Jesus, we do well. When we base our lives on the world, we are in danger of becoming bland. “For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt” (Mark 9:49). Jesus says trials will come to us. The enemy wants us to fail. God wants your faith to be true. Trials test both of those things. Will you be burned up or will you be purified? Will you fold, or will you remove that which inhibits faith and double-down on Jesus? Peter talked about this in 1 Peter 1:6-9 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ— whom, not having known, you love. In him, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” When times of trial, trouble, and persecution come will you give up the bad and cling to Jesus, or will you cling to sin and burn up? It is in the trials and issues of life that we fall away from righteous living. That’s when we throw up our hands and give up. Or that’s when we run to God and cry for help. Are we finding our comfort in the bible or the bottle?

We’re stressed. We’re pressed. What are we doing about it? Trust and love Jesus. That’s the answer of the honest believer. The believer who believes, trusts, and looks to the Lord for all that they need. Paul and Silas sang in prison. Peter was napping on the night before his execution. An angel had to smack him one to wake him up. If you are abiding in Jesus, if your faith is true, then when trials and trouble hits you then a joy we can’t explain will take a place in your heart. You will know that despite how things look and how you feel, the Lord has overcome everything (John 16:33). The world will be panicking about the circumstances facing it, but you’ll be calm and confident. How many people will turn to the Lord because of someone they knew who had a quality of assurance in crisis? Who started up conversations because they wanted to know what it was that was different about you? Why were you so calm? Why weren’t you panicking? The Word tells us that we won’t be afraid of the trials that hit the world because we will be aloof. Observing, but in no way participating (Psalm 91:7-8). The world will notice and want to know what we have.

Sin kills. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The death of your faith. The death of your peace. The death of your confidence. Does this mean that you will lose your salvation? Not by sinning. We were sealed by the Holy Spirit when we were saved (Ephesians 1:13). Sin has been dealt with. But that isn’t an insurance card. It isn’t some do whatever you want pass (Romans 6:2). Do you want to get to heaven walking and leaping and praising God, or do you want to get in as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:15)? The smoke still on your clothes and burn marks on your face? You chose to become saved. You CAN choose to reject salvation. It is an active, conscious, and serious choice. How could someone who was saved ever reject it all? By letting sin chip away at your faith until you are bland, useless, and trodden underfoot. Backsliding is more than an ‘oops’. It is the slow replacement of the things of God with the things of the world. You won’t reject the Lord by accident, but the more you bathe and wallow in the world the easier it is to remove the Lord from His rightful place. We’re warned about it again and again in scripture. “I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up” (Psalm 75:10). “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?” (Matthew 16:26).

We keep our faith strong by getting into the Word. By staying in the Word. We need to keep our focus on the Lord. He wasn’t giving us His instructions for kicks. “My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body” (Proverbs 4:20-22). Do not let anything move your eyes off the Lord Jesus, the Word. Yahweh God should be first and foremost in your life, your mental landscape, and your heart (Deuteronomy 11:18-19). They’re to be topics of conversation. How much talking about the Lord do we do as families? Don’t we sit down at meals and ask how was your day? Shouldn’t we also ask what did God show you about Himself today, and then share the revelation that was on our heart? Do I sound old fashioned? Imagining family meals that have fallen by the wayside in favour of television, phones, and social media? Well, maybe it’s time we changed that. Maybe the Lord knew what He was talking about, huh? If we don’t make the Lord the foundation of our homes, how can we survive? I didn’t grow up talking about God at the dinner table, but we had devotions and prayer almost every night. Heard a bible story, got a little commentary, and then it was round the room prayer time – optional, not enforced. We saw our father reading the bible and praying every day. We saw our mother paying attention to the Lord. They taught Sunday School for years. We saw them involved in the church and involved in the Lord. It was a good example to us. We need more of that in our world today. It is too easy to be distracted. The Lord doesn’t do bells, whistles, and clickbait. He does TRUTH and asks you to pay attention to it.

Again and again we are told what the deal is. The Lord doesn’t pull punches. He is honest. He leaves no surprises for us. “But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. Yahweh helps them and rescues them. He rescues them from the wicked and saves them, because they have taken refuge in him” (Psalm 37:39-40). We need to make Him our fortress (Psalm 91). We need to make sure we are staying where He says we should be. We have the Holy Spirit to help us. We have the Word laid out in a comprehensive pattern of righteous behaviour to work towards. Not that our behaviour will save us, but that since we are saved we conform our behaviour to Him who saves us out of love, affection, and worship. We are to abide in Jesus because it is He who saves us, restores us, keeps us, maintains us, sustains us, and enables us to overcome in Him who is the overcomer. There is recompense coming on the world. It is going to be stormy and scary to humanity. When they see their own powerlessness. When they start to realise that God is exactly who He has always said that He is – and what that can mean for them. But the righteous, those who are stayed in Jesus, they will be kept safe in the hand of the Father Himself.

This is not a lovey-dovey message. But the truth isn’t always soft and squishy. Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24-26). Paul told us to kill the old way of life we lived (Ephesians 4:22). We are told the world will hate us (John 15:19). We’re told to lose our lives for the sake of Jesus (Matthew 16:25). These are not lovey-dovey words. This is serious stuff. We need to be broken before the Lord (Psalm 51:17 and Isaiah 57:15). This is something that is done on purpose. Intentionally. Daily. Seeking to please the Lord. It isn’t complex. It can be hard. But the Lord is there to help us. He gave us faith, He bestows Grace on us, the Holy Spirit is there resting on us, Jesus is living in us. Jesus was the complete, total, and absolute image of the Father (John 10:30). That is living in us. If we are mindful about it and humble about it, then it cannot help but to change us. How can we not conform to His morality when we are aware of that which is in us? How can we store up secret sin when the one who declares what is righteous is literally inside of us?

The call to believe is more than an emotion. It is much more than a feeling. It is a decision to give up the all that you were and walk in the all that Jesus is. This is not lip service. This is not hey, now I can have fancy things. This is obedience walked out in thought and deed every day of our lives. This is realising that listening to the voice of the Lord and reading the Word of God with the honest and total intention to submit to what we hear and read is the only way to live. It isn’t I like this part and I don’t want to do that. The Word doesn’t change. If we are baulking at it, the problem is in us and not in the Word. If we are not joyfully receiving instruction and correction from Yahweh, the problem is us and not in Him. He is righteous. He desires that we be righteous. In Jesus, by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus we can achieve it. Through obedience and submission. Not forced. Not from fear of judgement or punishment. Because we love Him. He loves us so much. Can’t we love Him back with what we do? What we say? What we think? Don’t we love Him enough to admit that His way is the right way? The best way? The only true way?

This is not always easy to hear, but we ARE salt. And the world is full of rains and storms. Don’t be diluted. Don’t be washed away. Don’t let yourself lose your saltiness. Remain in Him. Remain in the Word. Keep it before your eyes and submit to it. Be what He knows you are. Be what He sees. Hand in hand with Jesus, in loving submission, humble before the One who did it all for us by Grace through Faith. Accept it and rejoice in the freedom we have in Jesus to live abundant, salty life. Lights in the darkness. Blessings in the wilderness. Guides pointing to Jesus and all that He can accomplish. Evidence that the peace of God is real and that fear can be rejected.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: 2 Thessalonians 1:3-5

Our faith strengthens and deepens as we submit to the Word of the Lord. It deepens as we hear the Word and it strengthens as we submit to the Word. Faith is belief and obedience. Knowledge and action. As our faith matures, our behaviour does too. Love for one another – each and every one of us – abounds. That is love present in great quantity. Copiously supplied. Prevalent. Love for each and every one will be a general practice of our lives. A favoured behaviour. This isn’t emotional love. This isn’t warm tingly feelings. This is the kind of love that our Father first loved us with: patient, good, gentle, warm, correcting, hopeful, enduring, truthful, submissive, obedient love. We’re not arguing, we’re stating the truth and resting on it. We’re not rejecting, but welcoming. Accepting, but not condoning. Righteous, but not obnoxious. Humble. Kind. This isn’t easy today. But it is time for us to throw away our childishness. We can’t hang onto prejudice and bitterness. That thing you think is so sinful or disgusting in the life of that person there? God finds that lie you told just as sinful and disgusting. Remember that when it comes to unrighteous and sinful behaviour, one thing is exactly as bad as another. There are no degrees to sin. If it isn’t light, it is dark. If it isn’t faith, it’s sin. If it isn’t love, it is hate. We are called to love. We are called to be adults. We are called to be as Jesus was. He didn’t condone sin in any way, but He wasn’t out there screaming at people. He had compassion for them. He acted with it, was motivated by it, and ultimately sacrificed Himself because of it. We aren’t asked to die physically for them, but since God loved us enough to sacrifice Himself for us it is the least we can do to sacrifice our prejudice, hate, dislike, disgust, and childish scorn. Isn’t it? We love, because He first loved us. It’s time to love like Him. Be worthy of His love by loving each and everyone around you. Show them what God is like. Be a light. Be salty. Get noticed.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.