Fear

Fear of anything except the reverent fear of God is a sin. Putting it bluntly, I must love to sin because I fear something so often. Early memories of school were full of fearing what might happen. I used to get nauseated in the mornings at school because of it. Now, I catch myself waking up on Monday morning having lost my confidence in Him and finding something to dread. Talk about out-of-control sin! Fear is a sin that we seem to be free to admit to; maybe because almost everyone so easily succumbs to it. However, it is most serious in the eyes of God. The Israelites who feared had to wander 40 years until they died because of it. I'd better be letting Him work it out and trust Him instead of holding on to it!

God remembers that we are but dust, so His Word is full of encouragement for us:

"When you go forth to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you." Deut. 20:1

"You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you...!’ Do not fear or be dismayed...for the LORD is with you.” 2 Chron. 20:17

"For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’" Isaiah 41:13

"The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!" Habbakuk 3:19

I have to say to myself, "position yourself at His side, cling to Him. The battle is always before you and the odds against you are always impossible. How do you think you got this far? Not by your own effort at all. You've lived for 47 years now and he has not allowed you to succumb to disaster yet. Why are you choosing to fear today? Depend on Him, thereby putting on your invincible army and personal bravery."

Discover Your Gift

It has always been troubling to me when someone pushes me, or someone else to identify their "gift". Some go as far as making you feel that you really ought to know your gift at a fairly young age. If you don't know, you are falling short in your Christian existence. It's similar to the feeling you get when someone insinuates that you might not be "saved" unless you know the date that you called out to God to save you. It's oppressive. That's not right.

Some of us don't have a clue what the date was when I was born again. In fact, I remember being scared several times and "making sure."  If my children are an indication of what happened to me, it was several times between the age of 3 1/2 and 5 years old.

However, I got the answer for this "gift" business this weekend. Now I can answer those who ask, "what is your gift?" or "you should know what your gift is by now."

My gift is obedience. God prompts or opens the door for us to do something. We must trust Him first, then follow through and do it. Someone is brought to glory, someone is helped, someone is encouraged and God's glory is furthered as a result. Whatever that was, it is your gift. You still might not be able define something in the way others expect. Others, looking on, might see and know better than you.  Not knowing it would be a protection from God.  One less thing that my pride would push me to boast in.

Betrayal

A neighbor sees another neighbor's children playing outside. He looks at their driveway and sees no car in the driveway. "A one-year-old and six-year-old at home alone", he thinks. "That's terrible, I'm calling 911." The police come. Nobody is at home. They shrug their shoulders and leave. Social Services comes. Nobody is at home. Social Services asks loaded questions of neighbors standing outside that can only lead to answers that are not helpful.

The neighbor comes home with his family to find a paper on his door from Social Services. He is, understandably, immediately upset. He is a Hispanic from LA, whose wife speaks very little English. She was at home earlier, but their car had broken down and they had to operate with one car during the last few days. It looks like she is not home when she really is. When he moved into the neigborhood two years ago, he made it a point to talk to all the neighbors and make it clear that he wanted to be a good neighbor to them; also, offering his services although he was a man of lesser means than them. One of his trusted neighbors, has betrayed him and called the authorities and he now is "on the radar" of an agency of government that operates entirely outside of constitutional restraints. He is now guilty till he proves himself innocent.

"And ye shall love the stranger..." Deuteronomy 10:19

Later, a visiting social worker looks in his refrigerator and sees little if any food. The neighbor has to defend himself, pointing out that he would be out getting food if she was not at his house filling out paperwork and "investigating" at 10 o'clock in the evening.

Why would a true neighbor expose another good neighbor this abuse? "If they were concerned, why didn't they ask my little girl where her parents were before they called 911?", he asked.

Scary stuff. Scary because it could happen to anybody. Scary, because someone else's opinion now governs the lives of your children. We say we live in a free country, but we don't. However, that's not how we are really fooling ourselves. We are fooling ourselves by thinking that someone else needs to take care of our responsibilities. Being a good neighbor would mean taking the risk of checking first before turning a matter over to ungracious authority. How about offering to watch the kids if both parents have to be gone? How about offering one of the extra cars if one is available in time of need?

Instead of throwing a neighbor "under the bus", how about being the good neighbor instead? The government cannot help you with that. Another one of those "only God can help with that" things. Life is full of those things that remind us that we keep forgetting about God and His perspective.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'... 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30

Things are Tough All Over

Today's News Headline: COFFEE AND SUGAR SHORTAGES COULD MAKE PRICES EXPLODE

What are we going to do? Coffee is our favorite high acid beverage with a pleasant aroma. It not only makes the body pull needed resources making it more vulnerable to disease, but in it's caffeinated natural form also spikes blood sugar levels, (without having to add sugar).

Sugar, (refined), spikes blood sugar levels too, and taxes the resources of the body as it lays the immune system open to attacks for about 4 hours, makes the body produce insulin, (which increases inflammation and related maladies), and leads to yeast-overgrowth-related disease and encourages diabetes.

It looks like God is helping us by giving us a reason to cut back some. So, it's not a panic headline, it's another opportunity to say our perfect Father is watching out for us.

"For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust." Psalm 103:14

Underachievers

"It is [only] eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea [on Canaan's border; yet Israel took forty years to get beyond it]." Deut. 1:2 Amp.

The Israelites were not the sharpest knives in the drawer. Neither are we. If we obeyed, we would be right where we need to be in God's eyes, (which is reality), in eleven days' journey; instead of 40 years. As a brother has said, "The best shortcut is obedience."

Thankfully, for the Israelites and us, the remedy for our lack of performance follows in three chapters: "But you who clung fast to the Lord your God are alive, every one of you, this day." Deut. 4:4

All of us, (underachievers), need to cling to Him.