Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.”

2 Corinthians 5:17

We are no longer sinners. It is the TRUTH. We WERE sinners, but we were saved by GRACE and not our own efforts. We are now NEW creatures with a NEW nature – Jesus’ nature. We are different than we were. We are new. But do we remember it? “because if anyone is a hearer of the message and not a doer, this one is like someone staring at his own face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away and immediately forgets what sort of person he was” (James 1:23-24). It sounds crazy, but it is easier than you think to forget how you look. It is just as easy to forget that you aren’t a sinner anymore.

If you know a man with a beard, you’ll understand that you get used to seeing them with it. So much so that the beard becomes part of the man’s identity – whether you realise it or not. If that man shaves his beard, it will ALWAYS be a shock. It isn’t the same if a clean-shaven man grows a beard – unless you aren’t around them for a LONG time. Because it is gradual. The appearance alters over a period of time. But shaving is an instant change. There are many short content videos on a variety of social media platforms that feature men shaving and getting the reactions of their girlfriends and wives. Sometimes they’re shocked into speechlessness. Sometimes they actually like it a lot. Most of the reactions are severe dislike. Almost horror. But the best reaction was the woman who was shocked and then asked why? He said he did it for ‘funsies’. She thought for a moment, wasn’t horrified, but admitted that she had gotten used to the face fuzz and would miss it. She got USED to it.

We’re not sinners. But when we were sinners, we got USED to the sin. It took Jesus for us to see that it WAS sin. We were USED to it. Now we’re saved and we fight our own conditioning. We fight the muscle memory. We have to be alert and active in order not to choose to sin – and none of us manage it perfectly. We NEED Jesus in order to achieve it. We need to rest in Him ON PURPOSE every time we have an opportunity to sin. Whenever we take Jesus off the forefront of our mind, we have a habit of choosing to sin. One of the big reasons we do that is that we GET USED TO being saved. We GET USED TO Jesus. That sounds crazy, I know. But we start taking salvation for granted. We start thinking that it’s no big deal. That the whole process is over and done with. We made the decision. We declared. We got baptized. We’re golden. We’re in. Heaven here I come when I make the trip. That’s not what salvation really is because the word ‘salvation’ covers more than the initial incident. It covers more than being taken from darkness into light (Colossians 1:13). Once we have been saved and brought into the Kingdom, NOW we start our journey. Now we start our REAL transformation. Now we learn to crawl, then walk, then share, and then persevere. Glory to glory, right until we see Jesus in person (2 Corinthians 3:18).

When we get used to being saved, we start cutting corners. We start resting in ourselves. We start thinking that we ‘have this’. We start going to church, doing our devotions, and saying our prayers – but without relationship. Where is the heart to hearts with Jesus? Where is the questioning and LISTENING and OBEYING with Ruach HaKodesh? Where is the seeking the face of Adonai? Where is our devotion to our first love? Have we let the fires run cool? Are we taking Him for granted? Are we phoning it in? It’s a real concern. Paul warns us about it in several of his letters. Jesus warns churches about it. When we get complacent, we end up exactly like soldiers who forget their training, stop working out, and start to transform into couch potatoes. Nothing positive can be accomplished on the battlefield. No wars are won by out of shape, untrained, ex-soldiers. It’s not like learning to ride a bike. It’s like falling down a cliff.

Ruach HaKodesh is not a passive voice whispering in your heart’s ear. He is meant to be an active coach. Running alongside us calling out encouragement. Spotting us on our reps. Doing the aerobics at the front of the room. Giving us physiotherapy. Massaging our muscles. Bandaging our wounds. He’s right there with us everywhere we go and in everything we do. One of the things He does is to hold up a mirror to us so that we can see something we might forget: we were washed clean. We were SEPARATED from our sin. Sin has NO PART IN US. He also holds up the mirror to show us that JESUS IS INSIDE US. We live with Jesus. We were SAVED! We need to remember not to go back to old habits – we were freed from that nonsense. We need to remember salvation is ongoing and an ACTIVE process – it’s too good to take for granted. We need to remember what we first heard, the glorious and wondrous victory Jesus wrought for us, and that every day, in every way, we have an opportunity to become more and more like Jesus!

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Psalm 13:5

“But as for me, I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart will rejoice in your deliverance.” Jesus didn’t stop loving us when we got saved. Jesus still loves us. Active loving. On-going loving. Compassionate loving. Loving that is so pure and so strong, we start to emulate it. We start to copy it. We start to love like He loves. Feel how He feels about people. See what He sees when He looks at them. Our trusting in Jesus’ love for us is what enables us to take real joy in our salvation. In our transformation and transmutation into Adonai’s children. When we take joy in it, we can’t help but share it. Spread it. Talk about it. Shout about it. Praisey people. That’s who we become. Because what He did was so great and so good and so spectacular that we can’t HELP but share it. Look what He was willing to do. Look what He gave us. Look what He STILL gives us. Look how He feels about us. It’s GREAT news. It’s a WONDERFUL message. It is a truly merciful and gracious gift that we can rejoice in. What a GOOD God!

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8