Fear is not fear

‭Proverbs 14:26-27 KJV‬ [26] In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: And his children shall have a place of refuge. [27] The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To depart from the snares of death. https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.14.26-27.KJV

When I say that “fear is not fear”, I mean that the fear of the Lord is being respectful of Who He is. It is not fear in the same sense that you fear a wolf or a bear. God demands our respect and our obedience when He gives us commands. He expects us to be obedient but for most of the history recorded in the Bible, there was more disobedience than obedience. Even in the past two millennia, since Jesus’ ascension to Heaven, the church has had many more problems resulting from pride and greed than we have experienced in following Jesus’ commands.

The church has fractured into many denominations during this time as well. This is not what was intended at the beginning. The church was supposed to be unified in service to those who need Jesus and that ball was dropped. We need to get back to being the Church of Jesus Christ, following His commands and not trying to be better than the church down the street. We are not in a competition but we are supposed to be fulfilling our duty to each other.

God’s will for us

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Matthew 28:19 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/mat.28.19/7214

The commission that Jesus gave to the disciples is still active today. Go and tell others what He has done for you.

TRAA

The Truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and His atonement for our sins. Repentance from those sins and an adjusted attitude of becoming more like Jesus Christ! However you spell it or in which direction you read it, our society needs to get back to the truth of God’s Word, the Bible! For more than fifty years our young people in schools and colleges have been without the guiding light of God’s Word in their education. They may get a sermon on the weekends if they attend church, but today it seems that more of that age bracket don’t want to identify with any religion no matter what it teaches.

So…what can we do as a culture or a nation to bring people back to the place where they can get to know their Savior? Pray for a revival among those absent from worship services for the first and foremost action that we can take. The next best action would be for the church to be the church that Jesus intended for us to be, regardless of denomination. What does that mean exactly? Go into your community and find people in need of God’s provisions such as clothing, food, or help with chores around the house. Our society has become so insulated in the past couple of decades until we have forgotten what it means to be Christians and neighbors too.

Life is or should be more than working and coming home to hide until you have to go to work again. When Jesus told the Pharisees about the good Samaritan, He was telling them to go and do likewise. Why can’t we do that? Many of the letters that Paul wrote and those that the apostles wrote also had verbiage to go and take care of those who needed to be taken care of. Jesus said the same thing: “When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me a drink, when I was in jail, you visited me.”

If you have been His hands and feet in this life to those in need, regardless of that need, then you are truly being the Church…the Bride of Christ. As Jesus answered the Pharisees when they asked what they should do after finding out who their neighbor truly is, He said “Go and do likewise“.

The Bread of Life

God sustained His people in the wilderness with manna that was the bread of life for them. The Bread of Life for us today is Jesus Christ! Do you know Him? The Savior and Redeemer of the world and yet Christianity is one of the most hated religions of the world. The fact is that our “religion” isn’t a religion at all. Christianity is a relationship!

This is what God created humanity for! He wanted a relationship with us from the very beginning yet many people still don’t know Him. Why? Because of the “rules”? The New Testament church is bound by His blood and our belief in Him for our salvation, we obey His “rules” because of what He did for us not because of requirements or “rules”.

Jesus gave His life for us and He paid the debt for our sins and not just for the Christian church but for the whole world if they will accept Him as their Savior. We are called to be the light for the world to see. The Light of Jesus should shine forth from the church and draw those who are searching for His Truth to Him. If we aren’t being that Light then how will those who are searching know where to go or Who to seek out for their salvation?

The early church was a community of believers and we should be the same. I see a very different church today. One where couples and families come together as a church during worship services then they separate until the next time. This is fine…up to a point, but we should check on each other between church meetings. There are times when little problems come up for each of us that can grow into bigger problems before we can discuss them with our church family. Sometimes we feel so isolated from our church family until we will push “our problem” into a corner of our mind and suffer with it until it gets so cumbersome that we have to seek out our friends to help us handle it.

It is this community of believers that has come apart in the last fifty or so years and it is something that our church, every church, needs to get back to. Not exactly in a commune way but close enough to each other that we can be there for each other no matter what the need is, big or small or in between. This is the relationship that we should have in the Body of Christ and with Him too. If we aren’t doing this and haven’t been doing this then we need to start…NOW! I’m praying that the church will realize this and seek Him and His influence in this before the possibility of a revival is lost.