Fear No Fear

“Likewise, you husbands, live considerately with your wives, giving honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they too are also heirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7, MEV). God loves us enough to teach us not to get in our own way. We do that by learning to love like Him. He’s eager to teach us how to do it (1 John 4:7–11). He even empowers us to use His love to grow that same love in our hearts (Galatians 5:22-23). But it is OUR decision whether or not we are going to. And the best opportunity we have is with those we see every day. Our family. So frequently the person other people meet out on the street is a stranger to those we live with. We present different people depending on where we are. Which isn’t right. We should be consistent. The same person at home that we are at work that we are at school that we are at church that we are running errands around town that we are driving our vehicles. We shouldn’t have different faces we present to different people – although we may choose to keep details private or compartmentalized (we’re more intimate in conversation with our spouses than we are with co-workers, for example). We may not let the nitty gritty of who we are out to play everywhere we go, but the basic behaviour we use should be the same. We shouldn’t have bouts of temper in one place and a placid demeanour in another. We shouldn’t be kind to strangers and impatient with our kids. We shouldn’t raise our hands in prayer and holy living at church and smack our family around at home. We should be the same kind of people. Loving people. Choosing to emulate the God who lives within us. Modelling Jesus to the world. It has been said, and it is very true, that the ONLY Jesus some people will ever see is the Jesus in you and the Jesus in me. We have a RESPONSIBILITY to live like Jesus and to let Jesus live through us. It isn’t easy. It’s simple, but it isn’t easy. We have to choose to love. Every day. Picking love and walking it out. Every time we open our mouths. Every time we act. Every time we start thinking on something. We need to choose to do it in love. To intentionally put down our instincts and engage His thinking on the situation. Choosing His words. Choosing to obey His guidance or correction. Choosing to act in accordance and alignment with what Jesus taught us. We have Holy Spirit speaking to us constantly. We have the Word which shows us God’s moral character and the example of Jesus. We have these things. But we need to choose to engage them. Every time. Every day. All day long. If we use our relationship with the Lord to ask how, to listen to Him, and to obey what we hear and read in the Word, it will begin to become part of who WE are. This is the work God does in us. This is the work we need to submit to. Choosing Him every time. Getting out of our own way and letting Him shine in and through us.