Thursday, March 31, 2011

March 31, 2011

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me." John 14:1

The first thing I notice in this Scripture verse is the clear and simple statement that fear is a choice. "Do not let your hearts be troubled", He says. Why would Jesus make that statement if it were not possible for you to choose to not allow fear to dominate your emotions?

If you can choose not to fear, how does that happen?

You believe in God and you believe Jesus is the Son of God. You must believe that God is greater than what you fear! You must fear God more than you fear death. By believing that God is greater than what you fear and if what you fear most is death, then you must believe that God is bigger than death.

Doesn't that make sense?

Jesus admits as much when you understand the context of this portion of Scripture. He has just told his disciples that He is going to be dying on a cross to atone for the sins of the world, and THEN He will be going to Heaven to prepare a place for them to enjoy when they get there. Certainly, Jesus would not have promised His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them if He believed that He would not arise from the dead. Jesus knew that God was bigger than death. He was confident that after His death on the cross He would again be alive and returning to Heaven.

Choose faith in Life over the fear of death and your heart will not be troubled! Jesus was not afraid to go to the cross because He knew Who His Father was and how powerful His Father was! Jesus feared being separated from His Father, as would necessarily happen when He took the sins of the world upon Himself. Dying as a sinner would cause Jesus to be separated from the Father. That is something He had never experienced and greatly dreaded - as you can imagine.

You fear being separated from life and that is why death holds such fear for you. But what if you were to believe that being separated from this life means being united with God and with Jesus? What if you believed that the God you love and trust is bigger than death? What would it do for your level of fear if you dared to believe that God is bigger than life itself? And not only is He bigger than life - HE IS LIFE!  Death perishes in His presence!  It is in Him we "live and die and have our being" as Acts tells you.

Let not your heart be troubled! Choose to not be fearful over death! Believe in the God Who is bigger than death because He is bigger than life!










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