In this series I’m going to introduce you to a new acronym for FEAR.
Now we’re in ordinary time and perhaps the sizzle of summer, the mundane of monotony, or the chaos of culture has enveloped you like the marine layer (dense fog that rolls eerily off the ocean and coats everything with a fine layer of moisture, blocks out the sun, and cools the air), sitting heavy upon you like a weighted blanket.
And if you’re anything like me, the buzz of Easter is a faint thought and the equidistant time from Christmas past to Christmas future is a vast chasm of numbness to the subject, leaving you in a state of simple existence with whatever good or bad is happening to you or around you.
I want to propose that it is often in this season that we find ourselves living in FEAR. We can let the woes of life run our imagination ragged composing a symphony of worst-case scenarios and what-if matches. It is frequently here that we find ourselves living in FEAR - Forgetting Everything About Resurrection!
We are to be people of hope as this is the promise of life in Christ. Jesus said we’d have life to the full, life eternal, and He is the way, the truth, and the life! So, per the Son of God, we should never live life in a state of gloom and doom or hopeless despair.
So, for the next four weeks, we’ll look at some specific places in which we find FEAR gripping and controlling us as well as discover some key elements to overcoming that FEAR in our lives.
In 2 Cor 11-12, Paul almost comically humblebrags to the readers about why he could boast as much or more than anyone about his faith journey. But he says he’s not going to and instead, he’s only going to brag about his weaknesses. Huh?
I can relate to Paul because I find myself fighting the demon of pride more often than I care to admit. Paul goes on to say, however, he has been dealing with a significant problem that he can’t get rid of. It is something seemingly frustrating and incessantly nagging.
He has sought God to take this thing away, 3 times – which is the biblical number for completely, and God didn’t remove it. He calls it a “messenger of Satan” that was sent to “torment him” and keep him from becoming too self-absorbed and arrogant! WOW!
Paul refers to this evil currier as a “thorn in his flesh” which I think tells us a lot.
Why would God allow this? What can we learn from it?
We often get caught up in our own earthly battles and benefits. We are consumed by what we can control and the manipulation of our personal effects. If God wanted to make sure we didn’t get too comfortable in our earthly state or become too self-reliant, then we would need a recurring thorn to slow us down and keep us humble.
Maybe this is just part of the natural consequence of the post-Edenic cursed world in which we live. Genesis 3:17-19 talks about how man will eat the produce of the land through painful labor and there will be thorns and thistles in the process. And where would we get those thorns, in our flesh.
So, what do we do with it?
I think we need to have 2 things in mind:
- Life sucks and things are hard. We can fear them, run from them, pretend they are there, or even get shut down by them. We can throw a fit or even give in and give up fighting them. Or, we can learn to appreciate that God is bigger and we can trust Him in it to make us STRONG.
- Paul says that he will brag in this weakness, this personal issue, this thorn, because God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made PERFECT in your weakness.” So, Paul brags in his “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties” because “when he’s weak, then he’s strong!” That strength is our in our weakness as well because we’re no longer relying on our own strength.
Remember that Jesus rose from the grave and that the resurrection from the dead gives us access to eternal life…which starts the moment we say ‘YES’ to Jesus!
#StrengthInWeakness
#EveryRoseHasItsThorns
#F.E.A.R.
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
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