Fear No Fear

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

“Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are counted among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to Yahweh when you count them, that there be no plague among them when you count them. They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are counted, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs); half a shekel for an offering to Yahweh. Everyone who passes over to those who are counted, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls. You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.”
(Exodus 30:11-16)

“For however many are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him is the “Amen”, to the glory of God through us. Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.“
(2 Corinthians 1:20-22)

When the census was taken, the one who was not counted (yet) crossed over and became one who was now counted. This was how they were considered redeemed, no longer slaves (in Egypt) but productive members of the community of God’s children. Everyone was treated the same. Everyone paid the same. Everyone was redeemed the same. God accepted their payment and by accepting, caused them to become redeemed.

In the same way, in Jesus we are counted God’s children. We are established in Jesus. We are counted, anointed, and sealed. We know this, not because we added a physical coin to a physical collection, but because we have been given the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. We have life living within us that has nothing to do with us. A new part. A part that we have as a down payment for the complete and total restoration that it coming. We WERE those who were not counted as part of God’s family. We ARE NOW counted as part of His family in Jesus.

Summary

God doesn’t hold one person as better than another (Acts 10:34). If we were willing to seek God like Moses did, we could have the same type of experiences Moses did. We can ALL approach Him. We can ALL seek Him. In Jesus, we are ALL equal. We are counted at God’s children. Period. It’s up to US whether or not we pursue that relationship or whether we don’t. We’ve been given a down payment. It’s up to us to bank more.