NOTE: I was so busy getting ready for Good Friday, I forgot to post this! I apologize for that.
The word focus for today is “fear.”
Fear is the most natural instinct in the human experience. It is a gift from God. It helps to keep us safe in times of danger.
Even when we do not know “why” we are afraid, we know that something is “off” around us. It is not something we need to be taught. We have it from birth. This is what I call natural fear.
There is a second kind of fear: spiritual fear.
Spiritual fear is the fear that comes upon us when we consider ourselves in the grander reality of life. When we stop to take inventory of the world in which we live and ask the question: Why do I exist?
How we answer the question of existence will impact how we live our lives. What kind of people we want to be.
Spiritual fear speaks to the character we form and shape as we experience the highs and lows of life.
I don’t want to start splitting too many hairs here, but I think there is a third kind of fear. This one I want to call supernatural fear or “divine fear.”
Divine fear is the fear we experience when we come in contact with God. When we have a true and intimate apprehension of who God is and what he expects from us.
The longer live the greater our ability to tell the difference between all of these kinds of fear. And, as we grow the more we become less susceptible to the first two and become focused on the third.
The “fear of the Lord,” as the Scriptures describe it is the only safeguard we have against being ruled and ruined by our emotions. We have to look to God and trust in his provision.
On this Good Friday, this is one of the most important lessons of Jesus’ crucifixion. We can face anything that comes at us if we are moving and living in the will of God.
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