October 5, 1999
How would I respond to the question “Do you believe in God,” if the person asking pointed a gun in my face?
High school students from Columbine High, Taber, a town in Texas, and all over the United States and Canada have asked themselves what they would do. Thousands have decided they will not wait until it happens again to find out. They want the same assurance as their peers who said “Yes” and then died. They are turning to faith in Jesus Christ.
What is it about these current deaths that have made many think about faith? Is it because people want to see something before they believe? Faith ceases being abstract when someone dies for it. Now there is proof. Those who claim to believe are not just making noise.
Consider the disciples. They could only have talked about eternal life and faith but they went further; all but John were martyred because they believed. (John was exiled to a deserted island.) All of them were convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead and that His resurrection guaranteed them life after death too.
The Apostle Paul was equally convinced. He gave up everything anyone in his day considered valuable and followed Jesus Christ. He risked his health and even his life because he believed that what God had revealed to him was absolutely true.
He says it like this: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also...” (1 Corinthians 15:3-9).
Paul saw Jesus, alive and in person. That was enough for him. We do not see Him but we can consider the testimony of these who did. Are they reliable witnesses, or deluded fools who died for nothing? Even a brief investigation shows that their lives matched what they claimed. They considered that the resurrection of Jesus is the most important element of the Christian faith and were willing to stake their lives on it.
For them and for us, if the resurrection is not true, then all Christian teaching and preaching is useless. So is faith. What good is it to believe if they lied about the power of God or faked the whole thing? Examine the witnesses. Did they live as liars and fakes?
If Jesus did not rise, then who can? He is the only person who ever lived a life worthy of spending eternity with a Holy God. Further, He said if we put our faith in Him, He would forgive and cleanse our sins so we can spend eternity with God too. If He is still dead, what hope do we have? Our lives are not spotless. Faith without forgiveness means nothing and sin wins.
What about “seeing is believing?” If we cannot see Jesus as the disciples claimed, can we still believe in a risen Jesus? Jesus said we can. He told Thomas the doubter, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
How is believing without seeing possible? Consider the jury who acquits an innocent man — but did not witness the crime first hand themselves. They heard witnesses, decided they were credible and believed their testimony. We did not witness the resurrection but we read the accounts and look at the lives of those who did. We can easily see that their lives were changed. They lived in a godly way. They were filled with confidence as they told everyone that we can live again. Most significant, they died because they believed what they saw.
Because they were equally convinced, some young Christians also died. Through their witness, others are convinced that the Bible is true and that Jesus is alive.
Showing posts with label faith overcomes fear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith overcomes fear. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Monday, March 20, 2017
God and fearful threats ................ Parables 564
August 5, 1997
Abortion continues to be a hot topic. Recently, the United States Congress recommended a ban on partial-birth abortions. President Clinton vetoed this proposed legislation but at least a dozen states determined to go ahead with the ban at the state level.
Military hospitals continue to ban all abortions, even after a challenge to change that legislation. A member of the House of Representatives who voted to retain the ban said, “We are in the business of having the military win wars, not make war on an innocent baby in the womb.”
“Pro-choice” advocates would argue that is not a valid argument; that a fetus is not a “baby” and women should have total freedom to do as they wish with their own bodies. Some try to use Scripture to defend abortion even though their methods of interpretation are questionable.
The decision to abort a pregnancy has multiple motivations driven by powerful emotions. One of those emotions is fear: fear of being caught pregnant, fear of not being able to care for a child, fear of a boy friend’s rejection, fear of losing popularity, fear of the sacrifices required to raise a child and so on. Although God offers some direction about the value of human life related to a child in the womb, He gives much more direction and help for that debilitating emotion: fear.
The Bible says “God is not the author of fear.” It also says “fear not” and “be not afraid” over 100 times. Sometimes these are words of encouragement to His people to not be afraid of others who are a threat to them, because He is with them and is on their side.
Other times God encourages His people to drop an unwarranted fear of Him and of judgment. He promises that anyone who trusts Him, belongs to Him and is obedient to Him, has no reason to fear. He is with His people and will take care of them.
However, a few passages tell people that God is to be feared. For instance, in Luke 12 Jesus says, “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
Reading this statement in its context, Jesus means we spend far too much energy being afraid of those things that threaten us when we should have more concern for our standing before God. After all, it is He who controls our eternal destiny.
For some, an unborn child is a fearful threat. Those fears pressure people into considering actions that are not based on a genuine awe of God or on a deep faith in His power. He can help us but He also can judge what we do. We need to be more concerned with His opinion of us than that of other people or even our own.
However, fear of God is not intended as a club over our head. Jesus affirms this by adding: “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.”
Rather than suggesting fear as a threat, Jesus wants us to realize God loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him. We need to make that a priority choice.
Jesus also knows that when fear of people or other things motivates our decisions, we are not living by faith and “anything not of faith is sin.” When we find ourselves in emotionally-charged or frightful situations, Jesus wants us to realize that He cares about us more than we could ever know and that He is able to meet our need, no matter how impossible it seems to us. He invites us to come to Him rather than be driven by fear.
If fear is a driving force, then consider transferring that negative fear into a positive reverence for God. All our fears can be overcome — by faith.
Abortion continues to be a hot topic. Recently, the United States Congress recommended a ban on partial-birth abortions. President Clinton vetoed this proposed legislation but at least a dozen states determined to go ahead with the ban at the state level.
Military hospitals continue to ban all abortions, even after a challenge to change that legislation. A member of the House of Representatives who voted to retain the ban said, “We are in the business of having the military win wars, not make war on an innocent baby in the womb.”
“Pro-choice” advocates would argue that is not a valid argument; that a fetus is not a “baby” and women should have total freedom to do as they wish with their own bodies. Some try to use Scripture to defend abortion even though their methods of interpretation are questionable.
The decision to abort a pregnancy has multiple motivations driven by powerful emotions. One of those emotions is fear: fear of being caught pregnant, fear of not being able to care for a child, fear of a boy friend’s rejection, fear of losing popularity, fear of the sacrifices required to raise a child and so on. Although God offers some direction about the value of human life related to a child in the womb, He gives much more direction and help for that debilitating emotion: fear.
The Bible says “God is not the author of fear.” It also says “fear not” and “be not afraid” over 100 times. Sometimes these are words of encouragement to His people to not be afraid of others who are a threat to them, because He is with them and is on their side.
Other times God encourages His people to drop an unwarranted fear of Him and of judgment. He promises that anyone who trusts Him, belongs to Him and is obedient to Him, has no reason to fear. He is with His people and will take care of them.
However, a few passages tell people that God is to be feared. For instance, in Luke 12 Jesus says, “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
Reading this statement in its context, Jesus means we spend far too much energy being afraid of those things that threaten us when we should have more concern for our standing before God. After all, it is He who controls our eternal destiny.
For some, an unborn child is a fearful threat. Those fears pressure people into considering actions that are not based on a genuine awe of God or on a deep faith in His power. He can help us but He also can judge what we do. We need to be more concerned with His opinion of us than that of other people or even our own.
However, fear of God is not intended as a club over our head. Jesus affirms this by adding: “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.”
Rather than suggesting fear as a threat, Jesus wants us to realize God loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him. We need to make that a priority choice.
Jesus also knows that when fear of people or other things motivates our decisions, we are not living by faith and “anything not of faith is sin.” When we find ourselves in emotionally-charged or frightful situations, Jesus wants us to realize that He cares about us more than we could ever know and that He is able to meet our need, no matter how impossible it seems to us. He invites us to come to Him rather than be driven by fear.
If fear is a driving force, then consider transferring that negative fear into a positive reverence for God. All our fears can be overcome — by faith.
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