Friday, January 16, 2015

How To Live in a Fearful World

“Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.’ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (I Peter 3:13-16 NIV)

We live in a world of fear and it shows. Fear is always proceeded by anger, harsh rhetoric, isolation, and, often, violence.  Today there are fears of Islamic terrorists; the right fears the left and the left fears the right; the world fears Ebola and other potential pandemics; people of color fear the police; a lot of people fear people of color; religious people fear secularists and secularists fear religious folk.  And it shows, as evidenced by the continual headlines of news stories in newspapers, riots, harsh and unkind Facebook posts and tweets, lawsuits, and just a general sense of tension in the world.  

And so I think it important to remember these words of Peter.  His world was no different than ours in essence.  Sure, technologically things have dramatically changed, but not the essence of human behavior. 21st Century sin is the same as that of the 1st Century and still reaps the same destructive consequences.  Yet, Peter followed His Lord’s lead in proscribing how to we should live in a fallen world—trust in the Lord (John 16:33)

When we trust in the Lord, rather than living in fear, we will have peace. And when we are at peace in our hearts, rather than reacting to fear with harshness, anger, or violence, we instead can respond with gentleness, a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and a word used by Paul four other times to describe how believers should conduct themselves toward others.  Webster’s defines gentleness as: “having or showing a kind and quiet nature; not harsh or violent; not hard or forceful.”

My question is this: Is this how you, I, or the Church as whole tend to respond to the crises of the day?  For me, I am doing better, but I admit my tendency is to want to mix it up with the people with whom I disagree or fear are going to lead people astray with their wrong thinking.  Many a time I read a Facebook post and I want to respond with a harsh retort, or I’m tempted to think, “what an idiot.”  But the more I have come to trust in the Lord to handle the ills of the world, the more I have been able to take other people’s beliefs and actions in stride.  I may still strongly disagree with them, but I can respond more often with gentleness because I am growing in confidence that my Lord has everything under control.  

I think this is the key for the Church.  Do we have confidence that the Lord is truly in control or are we under the impression that He needs us to defend Him?  If we fear things are falling out of control, regardless how small or large the issue or event, our natural response will be fear. I think there is plenty of that already.  

Peter implies there should be such a difference in the followers of Jesus in how they handle life that others will inquire about why that is.  Today, know that if you live your life in a fearless manner, with gentleness that bespeaks an underlying peace, there will be many who ask why that is. And wouldn’t that be a nice change in today’s world?

© Jim Musser 2015

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