Sunday, October 28, 2012

Love and Fear

The other day, a friend told a story from NPR about a man getting mugged in NY. The victim, upon seeing the age of the mugger and recognizing the cold air, offered the mugger his coat along with the wallet that was asked for. Apparently the victim and mugger ended up getting coffee and talking.

My first thought upon hearing this story was, "Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love." (1 John 4:18 NLT) I don't know if the victim is a Christian or not but I do know that Christ empowers us to love the way that he did.

This situation has really been sitting on my heart since hearing it. What if we chose love instead of fear, in every situation? How would our lives change? How would our ministry change?

I recently started working for a ministry called Joni and Friends. Joni is a quadriplegic and the ministry reaches out to those with disabilities. When we see someone with a disability, our initial response might be fear. We don't know what they can and cannot do. We don't know how to respond to them, or how they'll be able to respond to us. This oftentimes cripples the person without a disability, keeping them from walking in love. When this happens, we lose the opportunity to show Christ's love. What if we would choose to put this verse into action instead, choosing the love of Christ instead of the fear of the unknown? To me, that looks like introducing myself and engaging that person with a disability in conversation, treating them as I would someone without a disability, instead of walking away and acting as if they don't exist.

Fear can be crippling. Fear keeps us from meeting new people and trying new things, from stepping out of our comfort zones into obedience and faith, and from experiencing life as God intended. Fear keeps us from growing because we feel safe where we are. Fear keeps us from building relationships.

So what if we didn't respond in fear? What if we stopped giving fear so much freedom in our lives and started focusing on love? Perfect Love to be exact. If perfect love casts out fear, or as the New Living Translation says, expels fear, then there should be no fear in our lives. This should enable us to trust The Lord in every situation, that He is with us and we do not need to be afraid. Even if you are afraid, as I'm sure most of us would be in the midst of being mugged, we can still rely on the Holy Spirit to empower  us to respond in love instead of fear.

I'm sure you're asking what if. What if they shoot? Or with meeting new people - what if they don't like me or think I'm dumb? Or with a new job or new experience - what if I do it wrong? If they shoot, you get to be with Jesus, so it's a win-win situation. If people think you're dumb, Jesus still loves you and is your identity. If you do something wrong, Jesus is still on the throne. No matter how you look at it, if God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)?

I think specifically of people with disabilities and the ministry we miss out when we respond in fear instead of love. We miss out on amazing children in God's Kingdom, or even miss out on the chance to offer them an invitation to be a part of God's Kingdom.

So I challenge you with the same challenge I've accepted myself. When you feel afraid, in any situation, remember that you belong to Christ, that He is with you, and that you are enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to love instead. Ask for the Holy Spirit to lead you and be obedient. Finally, watch God use you to further His Kingdom in ways you never imagined.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Simple obedience

In the last year, God has really taught me about my emotions. I have learned that we are to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). More than that, He's taught me how to apply that verse in real life situations.

I've heard it said a few times that the Word is objective. God's Word never changes. My life and my emotions are subjective. They change constantly. I have been a given a choice about what to do with my feelings. When a situation happens and I feel a certain way, I still have a choice about how I'm going to respond. Emotions happen without me thinking about them, but I still get to choose how I respond to those emotions.

I'm working on practicing this on a daily basis, but one situation stands out in my head. My principal made a choice that affected my classes for the day and involved me in a project without my say. I felt quite frustrated about this. I responded by standing up for myself, taking on the new responsibility but also taking back say over my classes. I also involved my boss and asked for help. As I started working to change the decisions my principal had made (walking around the school to speak with teachers), I realized I had a choice. I could be really frustrated and share my frustrations with everyone and let the situation ruin my day, or I could choose joy. I could choose Christ, being thankful for my bosses helpful ideas and for the opportunity to practice love. So that's what I did. I still had a lot of work to accomplish, but it all came together and my day wasn't ruined because I chose to follow Christ and let Him be my joy instead of my situation.

In discussing this choice with a friend, a question was brought up. I don't remember what the wording was exactly, but it was something about praying to get to that decision, or praying more in that situation to be able to make that choice. The Holy Spirit reminded me of these simple truths. I had already spent time in "prayer." Prayer is communion with God, whether that be through reading His Word, talking about Him with friends, worshiping Him at church, or something else. Because of my time in prayer, I already knew what God's will was for that situation. I didn't have to pray more. The choice was now mine: would I be obedient to His will or would I choose my emotions instead?

This is something I'm continually working on practicing, but those 3 steps are ones I never really realized.

1. His Word - When we spend time in the Word, we're spending time with God. (John 1:1)
2. His Will - Ask the Holy Spirit for understanding of His Word.
3. Choose obedience - My response doesn't need to be more prayer, my response now needs to be obedience to what I know according to His Word.

This is simple truth. So I encourage you to know His Word so that when you come across any situation in life you will know His will. And then I encourage you to be obedient to what His will is. He that is in us is greater than He that is in the world (1 John 4:4) and provides all the power and strength we need to walk in obedience.