Fear and Grace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fear and Grace 

 

"Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever" (Psalm 23:6).

 

 

God is watching over you.

When King David writes, "Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me," he's not saying, "Surely only good things will happen to me!"

The fact is that bad things happen to good people. What David is teaching us is that God can take bad, evil, and difficult situations and bring something good out of them.

It's one of God's great promises to us: we can know that all things are working for our good "if we love God and are fitting into his plans" (Romans 8:28). If you're a believer, the Bible says all things are working together for good—not that all things are good, but that they work together for good. There's no difficulty, dilemma, defeat, or disaster in life that God can't ultimately turn toward good.

When you understand God's grace and mercy, there's no need to fear the future. God isn't trying to get even with you. Jesus shouldered the penalty for everything you've ever done wrong or will do wrong. He paid for it on the cross. So when a bad thing happens, you don't have to think, "God's getting even with me."

Mercy, like goodness, follows us in life. Picture a parent following a little child around picking up after them; God is constantly picking up our messes.

Think about this:

Christians go toward the future, not with a question mark, but with an exclamation point. God will be with you no matter what happens. He will help you out.

God's goodness provides and protects; God's mercy pardons and forgives. God's goodness will supply; God's mercy will sooth. God's goodness will help; God's mercy will heal.

Goodness is the fact that God gives us good things in life that we don't deserve. Mercy means God holds back the condemnation we deserve.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God's Purpose in Suffering

 

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me" (Psalms 23:4).

 

 

Did Jesus suffer? Was Jesus sometimes lonely? Was he tempted to be discouraged? Was he misunderstood, maligned and criticized unjustly? The answer to all these questions is "Yes."

And none of us are exempted from suffering, or loneliness, or discouragement, or unjust criticism—because God is developing within us the character of Christ, and in order to do this, he must take us through all of the circumstances in life that he took Christ through.

This means God is more interested in your character than your comfort, and he's more concerned about your holiness than your happiness. So, the question is not if you'll go through dark times in life, but when you'll go through them.

Now, does this mean God causes tragedies? No. God is good, and he will not cause evil or do evil. But God can use dark and stressful times for good; he'll use them to build a Christ-like character within us.

So, what should you do when you go through difficult times?

Refuse to be discouraged. David said, "I will fear no evil" (Psalms 23:4). His use of the word will implies a choice, an act of decision. In the final 12 hours of Christ's life, we can clearly see he made a choice to follow God's will; He made a choice to face down fear; he made a choice to ignore despair.

Remember God is with you. David said, "For you are with me" (Psalms 23:4). God not only promises his power; he promises his presence. We will never go through a dark day alone. Jesus knew he wasn't alone as he walked out his Passion.

Rely on God's protection and guidance. David said in Psalm 23:4 that God's rod and staff comforted him. The rod and staff were basic tools a shepherd used to protect and guide the sheep. God will be with you, and he'll protect and guide you. Jesus could have called down 10,000 angels; he could have called his disciples to arms; instead he relied on God to protect and guide Him.

We all go through difficult times. The difference for those who believe in Jesus is not the absence of the shadow but the presence of the Light.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Developing a Persistant Love 

 

"Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance" (1 Corinthians 13:7).

 

 

Love can be absolutely exhausting. Don't let anyone fool you. The kind of love that really makes a difference in this world will zap everything out of you.

Sometimes you just don't feel like you have any more love to give. Maybe you're in a people-intensive job—such as teacher, salesman, or waitress—and you come home and think, "I just can't face another need, another problem, or another heartache." So you just shut down.

Or you need to show love to a particular person who is demanding, selfish, and never returns your love. And you just think to yourself, "I'm done. No more."

While that's perfectly natural and perfectly human, it's not the high standard of love that God calls us to in the Bible. The Bible says, in 1 Corinthians 13:7, "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Love never gives up.

How can you have that kind of persistent love for another person? You get refueled.

When my kids were young, I remember taking the family to a nearby air show. It was so impressive to see how they would hook up a tanker to a jet in flight to refuel. I'll never forget that. Can you imagine a jet saying, "I don't need to refuel"? That would be silly! The jet would crash and burn. In a long distance flight, a jet has to refuel.

So do you. To show the kind of persistent love that God wants you to show, you have to refuel your love tank. Look around at society, and you'll see it's littered with debris from relationships that have crashed and burned because they didn't refuel their love.

How do you refuel your love tank? You start by letting God love you. "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). When you're worn out, tired, and can't imagine showing love to anyone else, remember that God loved you so much he sent his Son to die for you.

Now that's real fuel. That's what keeps you going when you want to quit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus Encouraged People 

 

"We who are strong in the faith ought to help the weak in order to build them up in the faith" (Romans 15:1).

 

 

Jesus encouraged people, and he told those who are strong in faith to make a point of encouraging others in their faith (Romans 15:1).

We all need confidence. When you know that someone believes in you, it brings out your best. Jesus did this with the Apostle Peter. "Petros," Peter's name, meant pebble. But Jesus said, "Pebble, you're going to be a rock. I'm giving you a new name."

When Jesus said that to Peter, the apostle was anything but a rock. He was Mr. Impulsive, Mr. Foot-in-Mouth. But Jesus didn't tell him what he was—he told him what he could be. He gave Peter confidence to live up to his potential.

We all need encouragement. Over the years, I've kept an Encouragement File. Every time anybody writes me a note, a card, or a letter, I file it. Even if it's mildly encouraging, like "Better luck next time," or "You tried on that sermon—good try," it still gets filed.

Then on days when I'm discouraged, down, and tired, I get out the Encouragement File and read through all the letters and cards that I've collected.

When you give encouragement, it needs to be genuine. So, give from the heart and with sincerity. Encouragement also needs to be regular—don't be stingy with your encouragement.

And encouragement needs to be specific. Instead of saying, "I enjoyed the meal," say, "I can tell you put a lot of effort into this meal and the seasoning you chose was perfect."

Instead of saying, "You did a good job," say, "I noticed you handled that angry member with tact and you maintained your cool under pressure."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plug In Your Emotional Battery

 

"Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, 'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest'" (Mark 6:31).

 

 

Are you overwhelmed? Do you feel inadequate? Are you ready to blow at any moment? You can't love others in a godly way when you're at the end of your emotional rope. How many relationships have been ripped apart because the people involved failed to take care of themselves emotionally?

God's Word gives us three habits that can help us recharge emotionally when we have nothing left to give.

1. Solitude. Mark 6:31 says, "So many people were coming and going...[Jesus] said to them [the disciples], 'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.'" Jesus understood that your emotions are like a battery. If you plug one lightbulb into a battery, it will last for a fairly long time. If you plug in 100 lights, the battery will drain very quickly. Many of you have so many lights plugged in, your battery is shot. You can't recharge anybody else—you can't give love—if your own battery is drained. You recharge when you get away by yourself.

2. Play. The Bible says, "Jesus came enjoying life" (Matthew 11:19). He was the most people-focused, ministry-intensive person who ever lived, yet he took the time to have fun. Certain activities recharge you emotionally; they literally re-create your energy and enthusiasm for life. We all have different activities that recharge us because we're all made differently. Find out what recharges you emotionally and make time for it.

3. Laughter. Proverbs 17:22 says, "Being cheerful keeps you healthy." Studies prove that when you laugh, it increases your number of T-cells, which raises your immunity level. Laughter is good for your health. Humor is God's gift to us. Remember, God has a sense of humor—he made you!

To be emotionally balanced, take God very seriously but don't take yourself seriously. Learn to laugh at your limitations. There is plenty of material. If you only laugh and enjoy life when your problems are all solved, you'll never enjoy life.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharing Good News

 

"Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone" (Mark 16:15).

 

 

Every Christian is called to share with others what we've been given from God. But I'm often asked, what exactly are we supposed to share?

Here's your message in two words: good news.

Mark says in our key verse today that we're to tell the good news to everyone.

Do you like to get good news? Everybody does. Do you like to share good news? Most people do. At my house, we compete to see who gets to share the good news.

Now, many of us think, "The people I work with, my friends, they're not interested in the good news."

But, we're dead wrong! They may not be interested in religion, but they are interested in the good news. The problem is not that our friends and co-workers aren't interested; the problem is we've forgotten how good the good news really is.

Once you've been a Christian for a while, you forget how miserable it was to live without hope. You forget what it was like to worry where you would go when you die. You forget what it was like to have guilt, fear, regrets, bitterness, and boredom in your life—a life before Christ brought meaning, purpose, and significance.

What happens to most of us is that the longer you're a Christian the more you tend to take for granted how good the good news really is. Likewise, most people who do not know Jesus don't understand how good the good news really is.

If you go out on the street and ask people, "How do you convince God to like you?" most of them will probably say, "You've got to work real hard to get God's approval and you've got to be really, really good. You've got to keep a lot of rules and you probably have to do some rituals. You've got to be religious. I'm none of those things, so I'm never going to please God or get to know him." If that's what some people think the good news is, it's no wonder they don't get too excited about discussing it.

But here's the good news: you are able to enter into a relationship with God through an attitude of trust—trust in Jesus Christ—and not through a religion of rules, regulations, and rituals.

God says you get to know him just by trusting him. If you trust his Son with your life, you get forgiveness for your past, a purpose for living in your present, and a home in heaven in the future.

Is that good news? Do you think anybody you know would be interested in that?

The good news keeps sounding better and better because the bad news of the world keeps getting worse and worse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purpose Driven Connection by Rick Warren