Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Dear Christian, do not be afraid!

Dear Brothers and Sisters, dear followers of Christ,

My heart has become more and more burdened over the past months.  So many things have happened, and as I have read many Christian's reactions to events of this last year, it has brought me great sorrow.  Word have been forming in my mind for months now and it is time for me to write them out.

Before I begin, I must admit that there has been no scientific polling of opinion on my part.  Most of the opinions that I have seen have been because a friend posted them on facebook.  That said, I have friends in (almost?) every state and in several different countries.  I have friends who are extremely liberal, friends who are extremely conservative, and everything in between.  Friends who are atheists, Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox.  Basically, if there is a facebook war to be had, I am likely have friends on both sides.

Even with all these different friends I have noticed an alarming trend in the types of posts I tend to see, and, unfortunately, many of these alarming post are from people who fall more into the "Christian" and often "Conservative" part of the spectrum.  As I would consider myself to be loosely in that category as well, I would hope I could expect better things.

The posts range in subject.  This week the attacks in Paris and the refugee crisis star as the topic.  Last month maybe it was concern over the LGBT agenda or government mandated vaccines.  They all are prone to the same problem though.  Fear.  Oh, the fear may be covered by a fine veneer of outrage ("They will destroy our country!"  "They will destroy our churches!"  "They are trampling on our rights!") but it really all comes down to fear.  We are afraid that we will lose our rights.  We are afraid we will lose our comfortable lifestyle.  We are afraid we will lose our lives.  As Christians, it seems, we are very afraid.

We are exactly the thing that Jesus repeatedly commanded us not to be!  From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is filled with God's command to His people, "Do not be afraid!"  Here are a few references: Matthew 10:26-31, Mark 5:36, Mark 6:50, Luke 8:50, John 6:20, Acts 18:9, Acts 27:24, Hebrews 13:6, Revelation 1:17.  There are many more.

Dear Christians, when did we start believing that we deserved lives of safety and ease?  When did we buy into the belief that because we were American and Christian, we had certain rights that must be defended above all else?  When did we forget that following Christ means taking up the cross?  When did we become so afraid?

May I offer an alternative?  It's not original.  It comes from 1 John 4:18: "Perfect love drives out fear." I think if we were more concerned about loving God and loving our neighbor than about preserving our rights and our way of life. fear would no longer be an issue.

So love the Syrian refugees.  Most of them are also victims of terrorists.  Some of them may be terrorist too, but that doesn't matter.  Jesus didn't dump his disciples because he knew one of them was going to betray him.  He loved them and built into them - even Judas.  And if we are truly going to follow Jesus, then we must accept that sometimes betrayal and death follow, and God can use even those things.

For that matter, love the members of ISIS.  Don't forget the way God transformed the life of a murdering terrorist on his way to Damascus (in Syria) and used him to change the world.  (The Apostle Paul, in case that wasn't clear.)

Love the LGBT community.  You may disagree with them, but don't let that stop you from welcoming them into your life and loving them.  So what if they take away what you think are some of your "rights as an American"?!  In the light of eternity, does that really matter?

Love the people and politicians who threaten to disrupt your way of life or your rights or whatever.  They too are made in the image of God.  And as Christians, really, we have no rights.  We are simply called to lay down our lives.

Dear ones, there are many risks.  We may ultimately lose our lives.  But isn't it better to lose our lives than to lose our souls?  This is our choice, for if we chose to live in fear, we effectively deny the Lord who bought us, the one who told us, "Do not fear!"