March 11

Day 272: A Worldview Worth Hanging On To

I just returned home from having breakfast with a new friend. He also happens to be our church's insurance agent.

Instead of talking insurance (good thing!) he told me how he and his wife are expecting their first child in just a few weeks time. He had questions for me.

His primary question was, "How do you help your child form a Christian world view?" (A heavy question for so early in the morning.)

I responded with the usual stuff. Parents need to own the primary responsibility for their children's formation. Homeschooling is a better option than it was some years ago. Parents modeling what they want to see in their kids. Invite Jesus into your conversations at home. The usual stuff.

But I also responded to his question with a question. "As a new parent to be, what causes you the most fear?" He responded with "a lot of things."

We live in a fallen world. A diseased, shattered, broken, groaning, evil and dark world. We also have internal fears. Weakness, temptation, the past, the future.

We can fear others, and fear ourselves. We can fear sickness, and our own sin. And for many, being afraid of being afraid.

Proverbs 29:25 says, "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe."

Only fear that has the power to decimate fear. It is only when my heart is captured and captivated by the fear of the Lord that I can find rest from and confidence to face my fears, unfounded or legit.

Psalm 2 speaks to this. "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." This is God the Father responding to anyone who would cause His people to be afraid. His people need not fear anything, because Jesus is on the throne.

Later, the same psalm instructs us, the readers to "Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling...Blessed are those who take refuge in Him."

This is not being afraid of the God Who has rescued us, but being afraid of trusting anyone or anything else.

It is unfortunate that so many Christians live fear-filled lives. No one likes it, but it has become our prevalent reality. Almost accepted as inevitable. But it doesn't have to be so.

If we woke up this morning and found ourselves breathing, it must be that the things we fear have not won the war. If we pause to reflect on how the Lord has seen us through prior fear-inducing things, we are reminded that He is the One on the throne. And not the many fearful things we may allow to keep us in bondage.

If I stop to think about it, we Christians should be the least fearful people on the planet. Because "whoever trusts in the LORD is safe." He is our refuge.

That's a worldview worth hanging on to.