Jesus: The Great Intruder... of our fears

I have never liked being afraid. It removes joy and peace so that I am left with a combination of anxiety and unwanted focus. When I am afraid my mind is consumed with something that doesn’t allow me to be very productive at all. For me, fear and worry go hand in hand. There are times that I really struggle with this.

In the past I may have been ok with worrying because I would say “it is just how I’m wired”. But I have come to realize that it is not so much of how I am made; it is more that I don’t trust God to be in control or engaged in what is causing me to be fearful and worried.  This important realization could also be described as – I am going to deal with this on my own.

This absence of Jesus is not so much of a conscious decision to banish Jesus as it is that I am not deliberately bringing it to Him so that I am fully aware that He is with me. When I am fully aware of Jesus it is much easier to find myself trusting in Him. The reason for that shouldn’t really surprise me. Jesus loves me so much that He was willing to die for me; His love for me is perfect and powerful. When I am with Jesus He fills up my life as we are told in I John 4.18, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…”

This means that the real problem in my life is not so much that there are many things in this world that cause fear and worry. The real problem isn’t even really the fear or the worry itself. The problem in my life is the self-inflicted belief in the nonappearance of Jesus. More accurately, it would be forgetting that Jesus is “an ever-present help in trouble”. Jesus wants me to know that He is on-the-job being my Savior and my Lord. It is an everyday and always kind of deal!

As much as I would like to claim that I will never be afraid or worry again, I know that would simply not be true. This world has always had dangers and opposition to God’s people and God’s reign. This is true in our day just as it was true for Moses, David and Jesus. I have an invitation in the midst of all that causes turmoil in my soul. It is a powerful invitation that will never fail. It was placed in God’s Word as King David dealt with great opposition in Psalm 56,

• 3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
  4     In God, whose word I praise--
  in God I trust and am not afraid.

Today, in a mixed up and broken world, God wants us to claim what David claimed. He wants us to understand Jesus still breaks through and saves. Jesus still intrudes into our fears and worries to bring us to a place of trust and hope.

Lord Jesus, help us to see you reign – always and even TODAY!

Pastor Nick