As I write this, I’m traveling back from a memorial in Los Angeles for my grandfather. He just turned 100 years old before dying from poor health. At the ceremony I thought about what it means to live a long time and how to make the most of each day I am given. I thought about my funeral some day, what will be said, and who will attend. Will I have lived an effective life that honors God and serves others? Each day, by relying on his grace and power, do I live the way Jesus would have me live? I want to. I try to.
I also thought about Jesus’ crucifixion and death. Why he died and who joined him at the cross. His mother was there along with John, a close disciple, his aunt, and two woman who helped in his ministry (John 19:25). However, most of the people witnessing his death didn’t even know him or care about him—soldiers, religious leaders, and spectators. Where were the rest of the close disciples? All but John and one other (who I’ll talk about in a minute) deserted Jesus when he was falsely arrested and were in hiding because they feared for their lives (John 20:19). They expected Jesus to become king. They didn’t realize he was already King of kings. No one took Jesus’ life. He purposely laid it down in love as a suffering servant in order to save the world (John 10:18). They didn’t believe that Jesus would be crucified and rise again in three days as he prophesied multiple times. They mistakenly believed that the Roman government and Jewish religious leaders were more powerful than God. They feared that Jesus who could not save himself, would not save them. How wrong they were. The reality is God rules over death, hatred, and evil. He miraculously raised Jesus from the grave, conquering death, hatred, and evil with his power, love, and righteousness (2 Timothy 1:9-10; 1 Peter 2:24). After Jesus’ resurrection his disciples overcame their fear by fully trusting in him. They finally knew and lived out the truth of God’s love and power. They spent the rest of their days telling the world about Jesus, even though it led to each of them, except John, to be martyred for his faith. Likewise you can also triumph over fear, wrongdoing, and spiritual death by trusting in Jesus to save you.
Fear Is Real, but Can Be Overcome
The other day one of my high school students asked me if I fear anything. I told him I fear something bad happening to my family or friends. What do you fear? Are you afraid of losing someone, being rejected, failing, being unhappy, unfulfilled or bored? Do you fear condemnation, pain, death, or the unknown? Those are valid feelings, but they don’t have to dictate your life. At times I worry about the future, which is really a form of fear. I’m afraid of the pain, persecution, hopelessness, and destruction I see in my country, the United States, as more and more citizens and leaders choose to serve themselves rather than God. Increasingly people are calling good evil and evil good. They are supressing the truth, restricting freedom, and oppressing the righteous. This bothers me because it can hinder people from hearing about God, believing in God and following God which is the most important pursuit in life, for God is the source of life. When I worry about this I try to take my concerns to God, leave them with him, and do what shows me to do, not out of fear, but by faith.
As a teacher I work with people every day who face the problems I mentioned. Poor personal choices, the sin of others, and trauma from life in this harsh, fallen world tends to blind them to God’s love and salvation. Many of them are like sheep without a shepherd—wandering, lost, perhaps injured, vulnerable, looking for love and fulfillment, but not sure where to find it (Isaiah 53:6; Matthew 9:36; Zechariah 10:2). Judas, one of Jesus’ close disciples, destroyed himself out of fear. He hung around with Jesus, but didn’t really believe in Jesus. He knew about Jesus, but he didn’t really know Jesus or trust in him. Eventually he betrayed Jesus. Afterward he was consumed by fear, guilt, and hopelessness. His fear and lack of faith kept him from seeing a way out. He could have turned to God for forgiveness, but he didn’t. Instead he hanged himself (John 13:12-30; Matthew 27:3-10). Judas didn’t have to live in fear and die alone in shame. I don’t want that to happen to you. Don’t let fear keep you from coming to God. Every person was created by God to love and to be loved (1 John 4:19). But out of fear and self-centeredness people don’t receive God’s love so it never fills them, changes them, or overflows from them to others. You don’t have to live that way. John, the disciple, understood this truth. He wrote in the Bible, “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). You don’t have to fear judgment, loss, rejection, pain, or death like someone who refuses God’s love. You are called to a much better life. Anyone who accepts God’s perfect love and responds in loving him back can experience his rest, peace, fulfillment, and joy (Matthew 11:28-30). God is always working to save believers, restore them, and work out everything, even evil and suffering, for their best so they can become like Jesus (Romans 8:28).
You Can Receive a New, Fearless Spirit
Admittedly living by faith and not fear is a challenge. Believers still face difficulties, opposition, and suffering. We live in a fallen world of broken people who make foolish, selfish choices which can have harmful and traumatic consequences for them and others. But that’s not the whole story. Jesus has stepped down from heaven into this world to change that. He is God the Son who became a man. He lived a righteous life. He died an innocent death to bear God’s wrath for your wrongdoing and the sin of the world. He rose again in triumph over sin, death, and Satan. Jesus offers this resurrection power to all who trust in him (John 4:19; Romans 8:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18;).
Although Jesus returned to heaven after his resurrection, he did not leave his followers alone. He told them, “Very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate [God’s Spirit] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). As Immanuel on earth, Jesus brought God to people and people to God. Now that he has returned to heaven he extends his presence through his Spirit and it is even more glorious for all who trust him. For the believer, instead of just living among you, he lives inside you. God’s Spirit transforms you from the inside out to become like Jesus. His Spirit in you is a priceless blessing. The indwelling presence of God in your life expresses itself in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, wisdom, understanding, and boldness. Through your faith in him, God’s Spirit replaces your once dead spirit. He imparts practical skills for you to serve him and others. He comforts, counsels, trains, and empowers you to live as light in a dark world and to lovingly point people to God in a world that typically rejects him. The apostle Paul wrote of this to Timothy who faced difficulties as a young minister, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7).
Live With God
Receiving God’s spirit is vital for true life. God created humankind with a body, a soul (the mind, will, personality, and emotions), and a spirit (Genesis 1:26, 2:7). However, since Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, rebelled against God, all people have inherited a dead spirit that has no fellowship with God (Genesis 3). In other words, we desire to live life our own way instead of God’s way and that separates us from him, the source of life. Although your physical body will eventually wither and die, God teaches in the Bible that your soul and spirit live on. So an important question is where will you reside forever—with God or without him.
To experience the unsurpassed abundant, everlasting life of God requires you to receive a new spirit, his Spirit (John 3:3-21, 4:23-24). As I mentioned Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection makes that possible. Those who trust Jesus to save them and to reconcile them with God become a part of his royal family and are united by his Spirit living in them. So place your trust in Jesus. Ask him to forgive your wrongdoing and to give you his Spirit so you can live rightly and experience all that you were created for which is to be with God, to be like him, and to do what he does in reconciling people to himself through sacrificial love (John 1:12: 1 John 1:9; Luke 11:1-13). Those who reject Jesus and continue to live in wayward rebellion against God will seal their doom when they die (John 3:18). After their physical body dies they will no longer have a chance to choose God. They will have made their choice.
When Jesus returns to earth to consummate his kingdom he will gather believers to reward them and to co-reign with him. In contrast, he will judge unbelievers for their sin, both those who have phsyically died and those who are still alive. God will give them over to their choice of living for themselves instead of for God. Tragically, they will spend eternity in torment separated from God and all he represents—all that is good, right, and loving (Revelation 19:11-21:8). I cannot convey how important it is that you come to trust and obey Jesus. If you do, you have absolutely nothing to fear. God will take care of you in all circumstances. If you don’t, you have everything to fear, for you will have rejected the only one who can save you from the hell you have chosen.
Conclusion
My grandfather lived a long physical life. I was blessed to know him. Now he is at home with God, because he placed his trust in Jesus. He is rejoicing in God’s presence, free from pain and sorrow. He has nothing to fear. The same can be true for you even now. Tell God all your fears, he wants to deliver you from them. When you trust God he becomes your savior and Lord. He lovingly shepherds you by his Spirit so you don’t have to fear anything (Psalm 23). Although you will still experience difficulties, pain, loss, rejection, and sorrow in this fallen world, you can rest in the assurance that God will see you through them and eventually use them for your best to transform you into the likeness of Jesus and to reach others with his love and salvation (James 1:2-4; Romans 5:1-5, 8:28-29). So live by faith and not fear and you will enjoy a blessed life that pleases God and benefits others.