What Are You Afraid Of?
January 27, 2010
". . . My rightious one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls." -Hebrews 10:38-39
God is drawn to weakness - the weakness that sees God as one's only hope and life.
So, God is drawn to faith. Faith is an act of expressing spiritual need and dependence. It is faith that pleases God. It is faith that we are to live by as followers of Jesus Christ.
The Bible places fear and faith in spiritual juxtapostion. We either live by fear or faith. In faith, we lean upon God. In faith, we align ourselves with God.
There are times we waver though. There are times we doubt. It's human, but it's not what God is looking for. He calls us to trust. Trusting is wise. Faith makes sense.
François Fénelon in his book The Royal Way of the Cross helps put fear and faith in proper perspective when he writes:
What are you afraid of? Of leaving that which will soon leave you?
What are you afraid of? Of following too much goodness, finding a too-loving God; of being drawn by an attraction which is stronger than self, or the charms of this poor world?
What are you afaid of? Of becoming too humble, too detatched, too pure, too true, too reasonable, too grateful to your Father which is in heaven?
I pray you, be afraid of nothing so much as of this false fear - this foolish, worldly wisdom which hesitates between God and self, between vice and virtue, and between gratitude and ingratitude, between life and death.
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