Devotion 120320

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

What is the opposite of fear? Believers are taught not to fear as far back as God established a relationship with His creation, even after it fell.  God commands Joshua in Joshua 1:9, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

So, is the opposite of fear courage and strength? Christ echoes these words in Matthew 28:19 - 20 (the Great Commission) when in v 20, He says, ".... And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." So then, are we to assume we can exercise a certain amount of courage because God/Christ is with us?

Ken Blanchard, a leadership author and speaker, has a book titled, "Servant Leadership in Action." The book is compromised of essays from various authors in the field of leadership including names like John Maxwell, Stephen MR Covey, Patrick Lencioni, and others.  In one essay, Raj Sisodia says this radical notion as he examines the acronym for servant leadership he uses:  "SELFLESS." The first "L" in SELFLESS stands for "love," and he notes, "The opposite of love is fear."

For example, should we fear death?  It is natural we will, but John 3:16 puts us at ease when John writes, "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son to die for us that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."  It doesn't stop there.  There are many bible verses that put love at the top of the list of attributes from God and that we are to have love toward one another.

So, why do we fear, as in a year like 2020 - fear of the unknown and what we believe we know or may actually know? Peter gives us a clear example as he begins to sink after walking on water toward Christ:  He takes his eyes off Christ and looks down (Matthew 14).  When we take our eyes away from our LORD, Christ, we immediately forget the command to love God with our whole heart, mind, body and spirit.  We remove the trust we have in God and place it in ourselves or something else.

Will we fail?  Absolutely, but when we do, we turn our eyes back to Christ because forgiveness and eternal life are at hand for us to be strong and courageous.  Our prayer is that we do not take our eyes of Christ, for forgiveness when we do, and that the Spirit strengthen us daily so that we keep our eyes on Christ.

Hope Men's Ministry