Change, loneliness, failure, rejection, uncertainty, something bad happening, getting hurt, being judged, inadequacy, and loss of freedom all have one commonality that we are talking about today!
FEAR
These are the “top 10 fears that hold people back in life” according to Amy Morin, a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist. And she faced a very dark string of personal loss that would heavy enough to derail the toughest or harden the softest individual.
Over the course of just a few years, her mother died, then shortly after her husband died. She struggled as a 26-year-old widow who didn’t have her mother around for comfort. After a while, she married again and not too long after that, her new husband’s father died of cancer.
She was once again facing darkness and needing hope and standing in the face of fear. As she faced these fears she found something profound in helping her overcome. She discovered that her mindset was the key.
I want to use that concept but take it a different route in light of our series.
The top 10 fears all have something to do with people. Other people are the driving forces behind each of those fears. They all are based on our connections, interactions, and relations with humans.
This brings us to an interesting dilemma. People, a source of extravagant joy as well can bring nothing but devastating heartache. In these relationships we love, enjoy, bond, build, long for, search, hope, trust, embrace, and make memories that are life giving. But in these same connections, we are hurt, trust is broken, loss is experienced, bitterness tasted, wounds given, and have cuts so deep they seem to never heal.
Without too much argument I think we tend to or can attribute these negative and dark experiences to evil - the sinister force in the world that steals, kills, and destroys. (John 10:10)
In the middle of Psalm 23, the author professes his great relationship with the Creator and speaks to this element. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear NO evil for you are with me…”
Evil here is seen as anything bad, an adversity, an affliction, a calamity, displeasure, distress, sorrow, trouble, misery, spoiled, broken, wicked, and wrong.
Jesus teaches in Matthew to “NOT be afraid of those who kill the body”, aka people, (Matt 10:28) but instead focus on God. And in another Psalm we read, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (118:6).
The mindset change that Amy Morin encourages is to shift from the negative, the things we can’t control, the things we lack (like we talked about last week), to positive elements that are our reality. People can be the bane of our existence as well as the goodness in our lives.
I want to encourage you to realize that if we put our hope in people, we’re going to be let down. Just plan to be disappointed or hurt in your human relationships and bank on Jesus, who will never let you down.
If we let our F.E.A.R. be our default mindset and way of life, then we lose access to the power of what the resurrection is all about, hope. This week, let’s remember Easter, give grace to people, overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21), and live life to the fullest (in Jesus - John 10:10).
#PeopleSuck
#Evil
#ScarcityMindset
#ABC
#F.E.A.R.
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
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